UBS may look outside its own ranks to find a successor to Sergio Ermotti. According to rumours reported by the Zurich financial portal Inside Paradeplatz, the bank is negotiating with Christian Sewing, the current CEO of Deutsche Bank.
For now these are rumours circulating in investor circles, and both institutions declined to comment when asked. Ermotti was supposed to hand over the baton at the end of the year, but the UBS Board of Directors asked him to stay indefinitely.
THE TURNAROUND ARCHITECT IN FRANKFURT
Sewing has led Deutsche Bank since 2018 and is considered the architect of the turnaround of the Frankfurt group, which was long the 'sick man' among large European banks. Deutsche Bank's supervisory board has also given him a new mandate running until April 2029, three years longer than his current contract.
Having grown up in the German domestic market and served as head of credit and risk, Sewing reorganised the branch network with a focus on digital. He also managed the consequences of the Libor scandal and relaunched investment banking and wealth management.
INTERNAL CANDIDATES AND A SHIFTING STANCE
The internal candidates included Global Wealth Management co-heads Iqbal Khan and Rob Karofsky, operations head Beatriz Martin and Asset Management head Aleksandar Ivanovic. According to Inside Paradeplatz, the extension of Ermotti's mandate betrays the Board's dissatisfaction with the internal options.
An earlier report, cited by Reuters, said UBS had ruled out appointing an outsider as Ermotti's successor and planned to choose from a shortlist of three internal candidates. The Financial Times, citing people with knowledge of the plans, said the bank could signal the identities of the potential successors as early as the following year's annual meeting.
Ermotti has since said UBS is also considering external CEO candidates, which Bloomberg described as a sign that the race is broadening beyond the current roster of internal contestants. Separately, sources said the UBS board was increasingly open to potential external CEO candidates.
RIVALRY WITH UNICREDIT IN THE BACKGROUND
According to Inside Paradeplatz, UBS faces competition from Andrea Orcel, its former head of investment banking and now head of UniCredit, which is engaged in a takeover of Commerzbank. Sewing would represent UBS's response to this new heavyweight of the European banking sector.
CAPITAL RULES CLOUD THE TIMETABLE
The Swiss Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the revision of the Banking Act on 22 April 2026. Separately, Switzerland's upper house of parliament voted in favour of capital rules that would require UBS to back its foreign units with 90% Common Equity Tier 1 capital, dealing a blow to the bank, which had lobbied against them.
UBS has said the 90% requirement would force it to hold approximately $16 billion of additional CET1 capital. If the parliamentary decision is confirmed, it would need around $33 billion of incremental CET1 capital in total since the acquisition of Credit Suisse.
Sources said uncertainty over Swiss capital rules could delay the CEO transition, and that Ermotti may stay late into 2027 because of new rules and a succession gap. Sources also said UBS may consider moving its headquarters abroad if Swiss regulations were deemed excessive, and that the bank was exploring options abroad in case the rules proved intolerable.
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