Weber says generation change at UBS will be a key task when he takes charge
INCOMING UBS chairman Axel Weber has said that pressing ahead with changes to the Swiss bank’s management will be one of the most important tasks he faces when he takes the helm at the bank in two years’ time.
UBS, Europe’s largest wealth manager by assets, named Weber, former Bundesbank head, as its next chairman on Friday. The surprise move robs Deutsche Bank of one candidate to replace chief exec Josef Ackermann.
“It will be one of my most important tasks to contribute to preparing the bank for the future and pushing ahead with the generation change,” Weber told a German magazine.
Weber said in the interview he took the job because UBS made him an excellent offer. “There were never any other formal contract negotiations or offers,” he said. Weber, who will be the first non-Swiss to chair the bank, will get a basic salary of SwFr1.5m (£1.3m) as vice-chairman, as well as 150,000 UBS shares, which he won’t be able to sell for four years.