Young guns at UBS must prove mettle

Once again, UBS Group has demonstrated a strategic pragmatism and audaciousness that nothing has to be ruled out in order to succeed, or just survive. The bank this month appointed Oswald Grübel, formerly top gun at deadly Zurich rival Credit Suisse, as CEO to displace the discredited Marcel Rohner. The move, which was inconceivable to many gnomic insiders just a matter of days previously, is clearly intended to demonstrate the Swiss shop is putting an executive with a strong strategic grip in charge of the next stage of the bank's recovery. The move is bold but the market is still wondering if it will be enough. Restructuring In tandem with Mr Grübel's shock appointment, UBS has restructured its beleaguered wealth management business in a more conventional way. In effect, the new structure is intended to do as much as clearly possible to segregate the remaining - and still substantial - onshore US dollar business from any other activities. This separation may continue to spark questions about its long-term role after discussions with Morgan Stanley were revealed to the market. However, the general division of labour should make Mr Grübel comfortable. Nonetheless, the changes in seats have made a clear revelation of who are the kings-in-waiting behind Mr Grübel should they engineer a real recovery. The management young guns are Franco Morra, Juerg Zeltner and Marten Hoekstra, with an outlier in Juerg Haller. These four were appointments of the now-exiled wealth management chief executive Raoul Weil. It is likely one will be a candidate for the top slot if they manage to collectively turn the ship around as Mr Grübel is certainly not going to be in situ for more than a few years. Notably, Mr Morra, Mr Zeltner and Mr Hoekstra are on the group executive board. In terms of their day jobs, Mr Morra and Mr Zeltner will co-lead Wealth Management and the Swiss Bank unit, while Mr Hoekstra maintains the chalice of head of Wealth Management Americas. Interestingly, the old Wealth Management International business, which had previously been at the epicentre of the Weil strategy, is now a subset of the organisation and will be led by Mr Haller. An honourable exit These adjustments at the top table will inevitably raise questions whether the new UBS dream team can better manage the daily attacks on the bank's credibility and survival. The litigious onslaught surrounding the context of banking secrecy is a case in point. Many other Swiss bankers might privately lay the blame on UBS for bringing the trouble to their chalets and want to see blood letting. However, it is reasonably acknowledged that the practices under scrutiny were not exclusively the domain of UBS. This is probably a central reason behind the vigorous defence of the Swiss banking statutes by the politicians. Indeed, the challenge for UBS is to set an example to the wider industry of how to get out of the mess they now find themselves in. UBS must, to use the words of former President Nixon when describing the Vietnam quagmire, navigate an honourable exit and one which the other banks can discreetly follow. Sebastian Dovey, managing partner and head of consulting at wealth management think-tank, Scorpio Partnership