(MENAFN- Swissinfo)
UBS CEO Hamers has been given lessons on how to communicate the bank's message to investors, avoiding words such as 'ecosystems'. Keystone / Walter Bieri
Weeks after announcing that UBS, the world's biggest wealth manager, would be embarking on a push into the crowded US market late last year, chief executive Ralph Hamers received an interesting proposition.
This content was published on September 26, 2022 - 11:16 September 26, 2022 - 11:16 Owen Walker, Financial Times
Advisers for Wealthfront, a Californian start-up that uses artificial intelligence to sell investment products, suggested UBS should buy the business.
A deal would allow Hamers, who made his name as a digital champion running Dutch lender ING, to put his stamp on the bank with its first big acquisition since the financial crisis.
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Yet after agreeing to pay $1.4 billion in cash for Wealthfront, UBS ditched the deal this month without an explanation. Days later the bank announced it would return more money to shareholders, though senior executives said the two decisions were unconnected.
Hamers, who was handpicked two years ago by then UBS chair Axel Weber to succeed Sergio Ermotti, has made growing UBS's presence in the US and developing a digital wealth manager for so-called mass affluent customers a central plank of his strategy.
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