Shortly after news of the mega merger with troubled lender Credit Suisse broke on a Sunday night, UBS chief executive Ralph Hamers found himself explaining the rationale of a deal that fundamentally upended his cautious strategy for go-it-alone growth.
The very next day, his own boss, pressured into the 3-billion-franc (about $3.25 billion) takeover by regulators around the world, reached for the phone. On the other end was Switzerland’s best known banker, Sergio Ermotti, to whom UBS chairman Colm Kelleher offered Hamer’s job on a platter.
