Bob McCann, UBS Group’s chairman in the Americas, will leave the world’s biggest wealth manager at the end of the year.
The executive, whose 39-year career also includes time at Merrill Lynch, is credited with turning around UBS’s wealth management division in the Americas during his seven years running the business. McCann informed the bank’s leadership of his decision to “consider the next chapter,” according to a memo from Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti and Tom Naratil, co-president of UBS’s global wealth division. The contents of the memo were confirmed by a UBS spokesperson.
“Bob transformed a business that was not yet reaching its potential,” Ermotti and Naratil wrote. Under McCann’s leadership, wealth management in the Americas “became a centerpiece of our firm’s global strategy, a driver of profitability and business growth, and a source of tremendous pride for all of us.”
There are currently no plans to replace McCann, whose responsibilities will be divided among other executives.
Before he joined UBS in 2009, McCann spent 26 years at Merrill Lynch. He rose up in the ranks there to become vice chairman and president of global wealth management, overseeing the firm’s so-called thundering herd of 16,000 financial advisors.
