UBS Shakes Up Wealth Unit, Hires JPMorgan Executive as New U.S. Leader

UBS is shaking up its all-important wealth management business, the Swiss Bank told employees in a memo Thursday.

Among the changes, UBS has hired Michael Camacho, a JPMorgan Chase executive, to lead its U.S. wealth unit, and is creating a new business unit aimed at delivering multiple products and services to its advisors and their clients.

Camacho, who will join UBS on Sept. 16, served as CEO of wealth solutions at JPMorgan and oversaw services, investments, lending, and banking. His appointment at UBS, alongside other changes, underscores how the Swiss bank wants to put greater emphasis on banking services for its ultrawealthy customers.

“We know Mike’s extensive experience across wealth management and investment solutions will be a superb addition to UBS and know you will all join us in wishing him every success,” Iqbal Khan and Rob Karofsky, who serve as co-presidents of UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in the memo, of which Barron’s Advisor obtained a copy.

Camacho replaces Jason Chandler, a longtime UBS executive who will take on a new role as chair of Global Wealth Management Americas effective Sept. 16, according to the memo. Chandler has worked at UBS for more than 30 years.

“During his distinguished career at UBS, which spans more than three decades, he has stood out as a role model of the best of UBS culture,” Khan and Karofsky wrote. “We thank him for his leadership of the Americas business for many years and look forward to continuing to work closely with him in his new global capacity.”

UBS’ Americas wealth unit, which includes Canada and Latin America, had more than 6,000 financial advisors and nearly $2 trillion in assets as of the end of the first quarter.

Khan and Karofsky’s memo also revealed that UBS is creating a new unit, Global Wealth Management Solutions, to better deliver services and products to advisors and clients. GWM Solutions will house business units providing investment management, global markets, lending, and family and institutional wealth. GWM Solutions will be led by Yves-Alain Sommerhalder, who also leads UBS’s Global Family & Institutional Wealth unit. Sommerhalder will be based in New York and Zurich and report to Khan and Karofsky.

The memo also says UBS intends to launch a new alternative investments business that combines its wealth management and asset management units’ manager selection franchises. The company also plans improvements to banking capabilities for its wealth management unit, an area that the memo says “is a growth opportunity and where we can differentiate.”

Over the past decade, wealth management companies have placed greater emphasis on serving clients financial needs beyond investments, such as by providing them with mortgages, securities-based loans, and credit cards.

UBS is one of the world’s largest wealth management companies, a position that was strengthened by its acquisition last year of former rival Credit Suisse. The combined company’s wealth management unit oversees more than $4 trillion. The acquisition gave UBS a large investment bank and boosted its operations in several non-U.S. markets.

Thursday’s memo said that, as a result of the acquisition, UBS will make its Latin America wealth management operations a separate unit to be led by Marcello Chilov, who will report to Khan and Karofsky. Previously, those operations were part of the same unit that manages UBS’ wealth management business in the U.S. and Canada.

In May, UBS shook up its executive ranks, appointing Karofsky to be president of UBS Americas and co-president of the global wealth management business. Khan, a former Credit Suisse executive, previously led the wealth management business alone. Both men are seen as potential successors to CEO Sergio Ermotti, who is serving his second stint as chief executive officer.

The company also said in May that Naureen Hassan, who joined UBS two years ago as president of the Americas, would retire from the company effective July 1, UBS said.