Ralph Hammers eliminates Ermotti’s guards

At UBS, the group’s exclusive managing director falls after years. Boss Ralph Hamers has other business models in mind.

It is a decision that will reverberate for a long time in the largest Swiss bank: at UBS, the company’s top rank, the “Group General Manager” or simply GMD, will be abolished. A bank spokesperson confirmed the procedure upon request; was first Reuters” Via an internal letter an interview from the CEO Ralph Hammers mentioned.

Hamers have already lowered management levels at UBS; Now, from January 1, all UBS bankers with the ranks of “Group General Manager,” “Deputy Head of Department” and “Head of Regional Group” will be demoted to the rank of simple “General Manager.”

Meanwhile, managing directors at other financial firms such as DWS Fund House have been eliminated.

It seems wages are not affected

According to “Reuters”, about 115 people were injured.

This step is done with the aim of making the organization more agile and making the decision-making processes more efficient. It is clearly not about saving: responsibilities and above all wages and bonuses are not affected by this measure, she said. GMD was among the highest paid employees among the approximately 71,000 employees of the large bank.

Titles only exist since 2010

As finews.ch already suspected in 2020, the 100 or so days of “Praetorian Ermottis” were numbered with the arrival of the Dutchman at the helm of UBS. Under Hammer’s predecessor Sergio Ermotti The number of GMDs has increased significantly – the address has existed only since 2010. According to reports, an additional level of hierarchy, which is not found in other banks, sometimes stood in the way of quick decisions.

Hammers have a different model for the big bank workforce: With Agile@UBS software, he trains his subordinates on mobile teams and flat hierarchies. In the medium term, 9,000 employees of UBS should work according to the method developed in IT.