UBS' mega-merger of its private bank is sparking a host of management changes. finews.asia reports exclusively on who is moving up, and who is being moved out.

The Swiss bank's move to fuse its wider wealth management activities this week already extracted a prominent victim, as finews.asia reported on Tuesday. The new 2.6 trillion Swiss franc unit, co-led by Martin Blessing and Tom Naratil, has made a host of further changes, according to a memorandum seen by finews.asia.

«We are excited to lead you into this new chapter in UBS's history and would like to start by providing you with more detail on how our integrated business will run,» Blessing and Naratil wrote. «For most of you, little will change day to-day.»

Meteoric Rise

But there are striking changes: current operating chief Dirk Klee is out of the new private bank, along with emerging markets and Europe head Paul Raphael, who will be replaced by former HVB banker Christine Novakovic (pictured below). «We are discussing future opportunities with Paul Raphael and Dirk Klee,» Blessing and Naratil said in the memo. In addition, risk chief Shailesh Shah will be retiring, they said.

Christine Novakovic

UBS is promoting Reto Wangler to replace Klee and become operating chief of the combined unit. The Swiss banker has been with Warburg, Union Bank of Switzerland or UBS for 23 years, save two years spent founding a marine software firm. Currently, he is operating chief in Switzerland, where he also oversees retail and corporate banking – representing a meteoric rise in Swiss banking by any measure.