This is how “Super Sergio” works

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Now everyone is full of praise for “Super Sergio”. For Sergio Ermotti (62) from federal Bern as well as in the media there are only benevolent words – critical voices: No! Ticino must now fix what the executive floor in CS has screwed up and lead the new Super-UBS into a prosperous future.

The whole country believes that Ermotti is the right person for this. This definitely has something to do with the fact that she never seems aloof to her Ticino charm and knows how to engage her counterpart like few others. As people who attended high-level meetings in Bern say, this also applies to politicians whose language he speaks. He is also a good listener who never forgets his roots.

career abroad

These are in Lugano, where he began his meteoric banking career as an apprentice at Cornèr Bank. But this career almost failed because of his dream of becoming a professional football player: “I was already good. But every football-loving man dreams of a professional career. Anyone who dreams of being the CEO of a bank at the age of 15 is not quite normal, is it?

Ticino’s financial center soon became too small for the ambitious young banker, so he retired to Citibank in Zurich, where he initially worked in reversible bonds and later became Vice President. As a result, Ermotti held various positions at London investment bank Merrill Lynch before the banker rose sharply in the global financial centers of London and New York.

Hard start at UBS

The recipe for success: Mediterranean charm and comfort combined with Anglo-Saxon toughness when it comes to business. At Italian Unicredit, Ermotti was promoted to vice president of the group, but was turned down as CEO.

His debut at UBS was anything but smooth. Ermotti was promoted to CEO in 2011, just six months later. Because his predecessor, Oswald Grübel (79), took responsibility for the billions of dollars lost after the Adoboli scandal.

However, the board did not have much confidence in the newcomer and initially made him interim CEO for two months. Another crack for the successful banker. But then Ermotti delivered his masterpiece, pulled UBS out of the crisis, turned its business model upside down and made the bank the world’s largest wealth manager. He would also love to be president of UBS, but the bank had other plans.

One of Switzerland’s richest

Thus, Ermotti became president of the reinsurance company Swiss Re. Probably a job that doesn’t quite do justice to his ego. This is great, can be heard from many who know him better. Money is also important to him. He is one of the 300 richest Swiss people with an estimated fortune of 175 million Swiss francs.

But Ermotti sees money more as confirmation that the bank has won from the bottom to the top. In her eyes, she earned her bonuses more than she deserved. That’s one of the reasons why it’s one of the few things he sometimes reacts with anger to when asked about.

Ermotti is ambitious, arrogant and hungry for success, but not aloof. He even responds promptly and professionally to text messages without trying to do any favors. Family is important to Ticino. He met his wife, Tina (59), over 30 years ago at the Piazza in Lugano. Ermotti doesn’t talk about work with himself and his two grown sons on weekends. “This is my way of protecting my family.”

He needs adrenaline

So now Ermotti is back at the head of UBS. The hopes of all of Switzerland rest on Ticino that the integration of CS into UBS will be as smooth as possible and without scandals and billions of losses. Others would break under the pressure, because that’s all Ermotti needs to get in his best form. “I will miss your adrenaline. You have a problem to solve every day, your opinion matters, you need to make decisions. You are at the center of a great system. It creates a positive energy,” Ermotti told SI after leaving UBS.

Now, as they say, “George Clooney from Paradeplatz”, whose comb is always with him, is back in the center. He’s meeting with decision makers, holding key talks and already working on the construction of the new Super Bank – but he won’t be formally operational until April 5th.

Source :Blick