Hamers, with no big-ticket M&A experience under his belt, has cut his teeth reshaping a major Dutch lender mostly by selling businesses. Now he will need to combine two banks with $1.6 trillion in assets, more than 120,000 staff and a vastly complex balance sheet.
A nearly 30-year veteran of Dutch lender ING - he married a
former colleague from the bank - Hamers was a surprise choice
when he was appointed in early 2020 to lead UBS. He had little
experience in investment banking or wealth management.
At ING, Hamers was seen as a tech-savvy boss who spurned the
image of a stuffy banker for a young, modern and approachable
CEO, and there he was credited with overseeing a digital
transformation - including a successful build-up in Germany -
while being one of the lowest-paid bosses of a major European
bank.
The digital success at ING is what attracted UBS's
then-chairman Axel Weber to poach him, declaring Hamers was "the
right CEO to lead our business into its next chapter", at a time
that some analysts said UBS's progress was stagnating.
His immediate challenges following Sunday's deal will be to
lay off thousands of staff, potentially more than 10,000,
sources have told Reuters, run down Credit Suisse's investment
bank and reassure the world's wealthy that his bank remains the
best place to park their cash.
His record at ING is not all shiny. In 2020, months after
his move to Zurich, a Dutch appeals court ordered a criminal
investigation into the role Hamers played in ING Group's failure
to crack down on money laundering. Prosecutors had previously
said they would not seek charges.
UBS declined to comment on the matter on Monday but the bank said at the time that it had "full confidence" in Hamers. While at ING, though he never faced an integration task of this magnitude, he undertook several restructurings in the Netherlands and Belgium, experience on which he will be able to draw, according to a former colleague.
Former Unilever CEO and fellow Dutchman Paul Polman gave a Hamers a vote of confidence on Monday, telling Reuters that "Hamers is a purposeful leader certainly well prepared to lead Swiss banking through these challenging times." What's more, he will also be able to lean on UBS Chair Colm Kelleher, a veteran of Morgan Stanley , whose experience in overseeing securities trading will come in useful as UBS prepared to sift through Credit Suisse's risky positions.
UBS declined to comment for this article. Kelleher said last year that he and Hamers "get on phenomenally well". While UBS has taken out its decades-old rival at a fraction of Credit Suisse's recent share price and Switzerland is pledging roughly 260 billion Swiss francs ($280.20 billion) in loans and guarantees to underpin the new group, Hamers will need to keep shareholders on side. He'll be pressed to show that the deal is in their interests, at a time when UBS was doing relatively well on its own.
Under Hamers, UBS in 2022 earned $7.6 billion in profit and counts many of the world's wealthy as clients -- a sign of how far it has come after its government bailout during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago, clampdowns on banking secrecy and multiple restructurings. Asked in Sunday's Swiss television interview how much he had slept in the last three days, Hamers, a passionate race cyclist, said, "not so much." "Maybe you can see that. But that's how it should be. We are talking about serious things here. They should be done seriously." ($1 = 0.9265 Swiss francs) <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ GRAPHIC-Credit Suisse rescue GRAPHIC-Tale of two banks First Republic shares tumble again as liquidity worries linger; peers rebound WRAPUP 10-Bank shares rise after Credit Suisse rescue eases crisis WRAPUP 2-European bank shares rally, bonds battered after Credit Suisse debt wipeout WRAPUP 22-Central banks try to calm markets after UBS deal to buy Credit Suisse ANALYSIS-Credit Suisse takeover sends shockwaves through London's banking sector ANALYSIS-Giant bank deal triggers political backlash in Switzerland ANALYSIS-UBS swallows doomed Credit Suisse, casting shadow over Switzerland BREAKINGVIEWS-Signature Bank buyer gets a crisis dividend BREAKINGVIEWS-Banking mayhem envelops TD’s stalled $13 bln deal BREAKINGVIEWS-UBS salvages most value from Credit Suisse wreck Switzerland puts up 260 billion francs for Credit Suisse rescue ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by John Revill, Oliver Hirt and John O'Donnell Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Nick Zieminski)
