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UBS has decided to select an internal candidate as the successor to CEO Sergio Ermotti, ruling out external options. As reported by the Financial Times on Monday, the Swiss bank plans to choose from three internal candidates, who will be identified as early as next year’s annual meeting.
These candidates, currently part of the executive board, will receive expanded roles to prepare for the leadership position.
Ermotti returned to UBS over a year ago to oversee the integration of Credit Suisse and develop a growth strategy for the combined group. He committed to staying in the role for three to five years.
According to the FT, potential successors include Iqbal Khan, head of wealth management and Rob Karofsky, head of the investment bank. Beatriz Martin Jimenez, who oversees UBS’s non-core and legacy unit, and Sabine Keller-Busse, who runs the bank’s Swiss business unit, are also seen as potential candidates.
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Dutch lender ABN Amro has agreed to acquire German private lender Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe for €672mn from Chinese conglomerate Fosun.
The Frankfurt-based private bank, which has been owned by Fosun since 2016, manages €26bn in assets for entrepreneurs and wealthy families. This acquisition will elevate ABN Amro to the position of Germany’s third-largest wealth manager.
In a statement from ABN on Tuesday, CEO Robert Swaak said: “This is a rare opportunity to add scale to our German activities.”
HAL, which posted a net profit of €83mn in 2023, is being acquired at its book value. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.
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The White House may announce a nominee to replace Martin Gruenberg as chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as early as next week, according to a report by Reuters citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Gruenberg agreed to step down once a successor is confirmed by US lawmakers, after an investigation revealed widespread sexual harassment and other issues at the FDIC.
According to Reuters, potential nominees include Kristin Johnson and Christy Goldsmith Romero, the two Democratic members of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as Treasury official Nellie Liang.
Adrienne Harris, superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, and Sandra Thompson, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are also being considered.
Gruenberg is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on June 12 about the investigation’s findings.
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Saudi Arabia is planning to raise funds through the sale of dollar-denominated sukuk to address a budget shortfall of around $21bn for this year and to support Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic diversification agenda.
As reported by Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, the kingdom has mandated banks — including Citi, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas — as bookrunners and global co-ordinators for a three-part offering of three-, six- and 10-year notes.
This latest offering follows a $12bn sovereign debt sale by Saudi Arabia in January. According to Bloomberg, the kingdom’s total funding activities for the year may reach around $37bn.
