Analysts took the 45-year-old Wuffli’s elevation to mean that the bank was at long last clarifying its top management roles. Confusion about who was in charge at UBS cost Wuffli’s predecessor -- Briton Luqman Arnold -- his job.
Back in 2001 the bank’s powerful chairman, Marcel Ospel, had maneuvered unsuccessfully to try to get UBS to lead a rescue of Swissair. The national airline went bankrupt shortly thereafter. Arnold, who was president but not CEO -- the bank didn’t officially have one -- protested to the board that Ospel had no authority to press for such a loan without his complete support. The board backed Ospel, and Arnold was shown the door.
UBS has never acknowledged any dispute over senior executives’ roles and insists that Wuffli’s new title will have “no effect on corporate governance.”
Analysts, however, hope that won’t be the case. Regardless of the bank’s demurral, they say, UBS is quietly heeding investor demands for a clear distinction between chairman and CEO that will leave operating authority in Wuffli’s hands.
Wuffli, who worked directly for Ospel as president of the bank’s group executive board, didn’t get the promotion until he had proved that he could survive an extended tryout.
The appointment “sends the right signals,” says Heinrich Wiemer, an analyst at Bank Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. in Zurich who has been openly critical of UBS’s governance. “It’s a positive indication that Ospel’s power is reduced.”
Wiemer downgraded his rating on UBS to neutral on the day that Arnold was fired, but he restored a buy on the bank the day that Wuffli was promoted to CEO.
