Even if UBS tries to avoid this impression: By taking over sole responsibility for global asset management, Iqbal Khan will become the heir to the throne at the big bank. For the banker, this position is not without risk.
Iqbal Khan takes over global wealth management at UBS.
A corporation dissolves the co-management of a business unit, gives country responsibility to new hands, sets up a matrix organization there that hardly anyone understands from the outside – also because the details are not really interesting. What UBS announced late Tuesday evening is usually enough for a short report in the newspaper.
But this is about Iqbal Khan and the global wealth management of the big bank: On October 3, the 46-year-old banker will assume sole responsibility for by far the most important business unit of UBS. Tom Naratil – the 60-year-old head of so-called wealth management in the USA – is retiring from his functions at UBS.
Even if the big bank tries to avoid the impression that with the reorganization of the group management, Khan will in fact be made the heir to the CEO post. Since 2020, this has been occupied by 56-year-old Ralph Hamers, Dutchman, who specializes in digital transformation. The new constellation is delicate for several reasons.
Ralph Hamers and the money laundering case
First, UBS is not just about global wealth management. It has investment banking, asset management and – it may not be that fast growing, but it is the home market – a significant business in Switzerland. If Khan is now informally number 2 in the second management level under Hamers, that can hardly be conducive to the cohesion of the group management.
Second, Hamers has not been with UBS for long and is not firmly in the saddle. On the one hand, he does backbreaking work in which progress can only be made visible with difficulty: his main task is to lead the traditionally hierarchical and cumbersome UBS into the digital future, in which agility and speed are very important. That’s easier said than done. After all, the better traditional business is doing, the greater the resistance to change.
On the other hand, the Dutchman has not been able to shake off a legacy from his previous job at the ING Group: A money laundering case that was actually closed is being reopened by public prosecutors and could come to court in Amsterdam. In this situation, the board of directors of the big bank would have to check whether the CEO is still tenable.
So if Khan seeks the limelight too much, the competition, both internal and external, will immediately say that he is cutting Hamers’ chair. Against this background, it is clear why the 46-year-old has stayed in the background since moving to UBS, avoiding public appearances and, if he does notice them, consistently speaks of “we” or “Tom and I”, but never of “I”. .
Iqbal Khan and the Envy Factor
Third, there is the envy factor. Iqbal Khan is the immigrant child from Pakistan who initially found no apprenticeship and is now making a stellar career. This is the man who switched from Credit Suisse to UBS with a roar – and who ultimately cost former CS boss Tidjane Thiam the job. This is Credit Khan, the banker who lends money to wealthy clients so they can invest even more. A model that worked when he was at CS and is now fueling growth at UBS as well.
Especially now that the environment on the financial markets has darkened and asset management is no longer a sure-fire success. There are many people in the Zurich banking center who are just waiting for UBS’s new number 2 to stumble. In any case, the operators of the relevant industry portals report that every story that has the name Iqbal Khan in the title is clicked on at Paradeplatz.
If Khan is as smart as many of his companions report, he knows exactly where the biggest threat to his future career comes from: the reputation that precedes Iqbal Khan. Against this background, there is only one piece of advice for him in his new position: stay under the radar and do a good job.