A top Credit Suisse banker who managed the wealth of Russian billionaires is being kept on by UBS. He joins a newly created wealth unit.
Babak Dastmaltschi is said to be working at a newly created unit in UBS's global wealth management (GWM) business, according to a «Bloomberg» (behind paywall) story Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter.
The GWM strategic clients unit, which Dastmaltschi is joining as executive vice chair, is headed by Benjamin Cavalli, who also comes from Credit Suisse and reports to Iqbal Khan, the head of global wealth at UBS.
Dastmaltschi rose to prominence by taking on private banking clients that became wealthy following the demise of the Soviet Union. With Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggering sanctions on wealthy Russians, both Credit Suisse and UBS wound down their operations in Russia.
Turning Focus Away From Russia
It's unlikely that UBS is retaining him because of his connections to Russia. Already starting in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea, he turned his focus to wealthy clients in the Middle East and Europe, according to the story.
In July, a report in the «NZZ am Sonntag» (behind paywall) said that several international private clients of Credit Suisse will have to look for a new bank, with Russian clients as the particular focus. UBS wants to part with 50-75 percent of the Credit Suisse client base in a business viewed as too sensitive for the bank.
One-third of Russian Assets
Over a third of the assets reported in Switzerland with links to Russia are at Credit Suisse. This includes funds from sanctioned persons, but not exclusively.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Swiss federal government has frozen assets of those with links to Russia and Belarus in Switzerland worth more than 7.5 billion francs ($8.1 billion). In addition, 15 properties were seized as a result of the adoption of EU sanctions.
