Ralph Hamers will step down next month as chairman of the board of the Swiss bank UBS. That has the company announced Wednesday morning. The Dutch director will remain with UBS until April 5, which took over ailing bank Credit Suisse earlier this month. Hamers, former CEO at ING, played a crucial role in this. His successor is the Swiss Sergio Ermotti, the board of directors of UBS has decided. Ermotti was Hamers’ predecessor between 2011 and 2020. It is unclear what the Dutchman will do after his departure from UBS.
According to the bank’s statement, Hamers agreed to leave in order to “serve the interests of the new combination, the Swiss financial sector and the country”, referring to the acquisition of Credit Suisse. UBS speaks of “new priorities” that Ermotti must lead. Hamers will stay on for a transitional period to train his successor. He will also continue to fulfill a role as an advisor within the organization for the time being.
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Hamers was in the spotlight last week regarding the acquisition of Credit Suisse, a competitor of UBS. The bank took it over for 3 billion Swiss francs (converted about 3.03 billion euros). The acquisition will merge the country’s two largest financial institutions into one of Europe’s largest banks. Credit Suisse was in financial trouble. The Swiss government has put considerable pressure on UBS to realize the acquisition and wants to guarantee losses of up to 5 billion francs. The state wanted the bank not to fall into foreign hands.
Reward ING
Hamers has worked at UBS since 2020, after having previously worked at ING between 2013 and 2020. In his last years as a director, he was often the target of criticism because of the bonus and remuneration policy. A proposal to double Hamers’ remuneration to 3 million euros on an annual basis in particular caused a lot of commotion. Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) also got involved in the matter at the time. At an administrative level, there was criticism of Hamers because ING would have done too little about the anti-money laundering policy. The judiciary may still prosecute the top man for that.
After his departure to Switzerland, criticism about his rewards died down. At the Swiss bank, Hamers earned considerably more than in the Netherlands: over the whole of 2022, the bank transferred about 12.7 million euros – almost six times as much as he collected at ING. UBS has increased in value since Hamers took office; the bank’s share increased by 76 percent. Under Hamers’ leadership, UBS has invested in digitalisation in the field of asset management, among other things.