UBS announced in the early hours of yesterday morning that it has appointed Alex Wilmot-Sitwell as co-chairman and co-CEO for Asia-Pacific. He will share the role with Chi-Won Yoon who has handled this job on his own since June 2009 when he took over from Rory Tapner who left UBS after 25 years with the firm.
Sources say this is a positive move for the bank’s operations in Asia as it means the region will now have two senior representatives on the group executive board (Yoon and Wilmot-Sitwell are both members). This should put Asia in a strong position when it comes to arguing for additional resources and more access to the bank’s balance sheet, they say.
Indeed, a UBS spokesman noted that the appointment of Wilmot-Sitwell shows how much focus UBS is placing on the Asia-Pacific region.
The two co-heads also have different backgrounds within the bank, which means they are likely to complement each other well. Yoon is a markets guy with his roots in equity sales and trading and Wilmot-Sitwell has established his credentials within the investment banking arm. Wilmot-Sitwell is also renowned for his extensive relationships with senior clients and is used to work in co-head roles, having done so in two of his previous three roles within the bank.
Wilmot-Sitwell is currently co-CEO of UBS investment bank, a role that he assumed in April 2009 and which incorporates the investment banking business as well as equities and fixed-income sales and trading. Prior to this he was chairman and CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa for a short while, and between 2004 and 2008 he worked as joint global head of the investment banking department together with Rick Leaman.
He will transfer to Hong Kong for his new role, which he will assume on November 1. While he has never been based in Asia before, he has travelled regularly to the region in his previous roles with the bank and is already a familiar face with many of the firm’s clients here.
“Asia-Pacific is a key strategic priority for UBS. Alex’s strong leadership, relentless client focus and proven track record, combined with Chi-Won’s in-depth industry experience, commercial success and understanding of the region will ensure that we will continue growing our leading franchise,” UBS’s group CEO, Oswald Gruebel, said in a written comment about the appointment.
Yoon joined UBS in 1997 as head of equity derivatives and took over as head of Asia equities in 2004. In 2008, his responsibilities were widened to include the whole of Asia-pacific, i.e. Japan and Australia as well, and in 2009 he was given the dual role a head of Asia-Pacific equities and FICC. As noted earlier, he assumed his current role as chairman an CEO for Asia-Pacific in June 2009.
In addition to Yoon's 12-year history with UBS, he has 20 years of industry experience and on top of that he is a rocket scientist. Before embarking on a career on Wall Street, he worked as an electrical engineer, designing the satellite communications network used in the US space shuttle programme. He began working in the financial services industry with a focus on equity derivatives in 1986, and spent six years at Merrill Lynch in New York and a few years at Lehman Brothers in both New York and Hong Kong before arriving at UBS.
Wilmot-Sitwell’s promotion means that his fellow co-CEO of the investment bank, Carsten Kengeter, will become sole head of this business. Kengeter joined UBS from Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong in 2008 as joint head of fixed-income, currencies and commodities (FICC) and was promoted to co-CEO of the investment bank at the same time as Wilmot-Sitwell, in April 2009. He is now based in London.
