Yves-Alain Sommerhalder was one of Credit Suisse's most high-profile asset management executives. Now at UBS, he is tasked with separating the wheat from the chaff at his old employer.

When he left Credit Suisse at the end of last year, Yves-Alain Sommerhalder, an investment banker by training, was in charge of the bank's financial product and financial offering for the super-rich, operating at the confluence of private and investment banking. Now with UBS, he is in charge of selecting who will stay and who will go in Credit Suisse's wealth management unit.

Little Time for Due Diligence

Somerhalder who left UBS in November, is part of a «clean team» of about 100 people deciding what people and units will be kept or assigned to a unit that is to be wound down, according to a «Bloomberg» (behind paywall) report citing people familiar with the matter. Part of the process is to determine what parts of Credit Suisse will be hived off into a «bad bank».

He was recruited by the head of UBS's wealth management division Iqbal Khan who also joined the firm from Credit Suisse. In his role at UBS, Sommerhalder will assess the wealth management business of their former employer. Sommerhalder will be working with Todd Tucker who is leading the effort to integrate the wealth management team, according to the report.

More Aggressive Timeline

Time is of the essence and UBS has to work quickly to come to grips with the pitfalls and potential opportunities the forced merger with Credit Suisse presents it. In light of this, the due diligence process which normally would take months, is under a far more aggressive timeline. UBS would like to seal the deal as soon as this month because uncertainty is leading to a sharp increase in turnover at Credit Suisse.

To help with the takeover, UBS hired the firm Oliver Wyman to help advise in the process of preparing for job cuts and disposing of unwanted units of Credit Suisse.

Groundwork for a Merger

In addition to determining what is to be wound down, UBS is also creating groups to help with the integration of the two entities that include wealth- and asset management, investment banking, and technical infrastructure.

According to the sources cited by Bloomberg, they are tasked with determining the deals, translations, and clients that could be on the Credit Suisse Books. That way, they can act quickly once UBS has full access to Credit Suisse records.