UBS swipe new finance chief Sarah Youngwood from rival JPMorgan
UBS have pinched a JPMorgan executive as its new chief financial officer, as part of major shake-up of senior management at the biggest bank in Switzerland.
The announcement comes shortly after UBS also named Colm Kelleher, former president at Morgan Stanley, to succeed Axel Weber as chairman of the world’s biggest wealth manager when his mandate ends in April.
Youngwood, who has been at JPMorgan for 24 years, will replace current CFO Kirt Gardner when he steps down in May next year, the bank said.
A seasoned professional with joint French and US citizenship, Youngwood has worked across different roles at the rival bank and held the position of financial chief of JPMorgan Chase’s consumer & community banking business since 2016.
“With her strong track record, in-depth finance expertise, and experience across various banking areas, Sarah is ideally suited to lead our finance function into the future,” said UBS CEO Ralph Hamers.
Her appointment follows comments made by the European Central Bank (ECB) earlier this year about the lack of female chief executives at European credit and investment organisations after finding that just eight percent of execs were women.
The ECB noted that just a fifth of positions on the management bodies of the biggest banks in Europe were held by women.
“The European banking landscape is beginning to include more women, but progress is still too slow,” Frank Elderson and Elizabeth McCaul, members of the supervisory board wrote in a blog post.
There will be four women on the UBS executive board, which is made up of 12 people altogether, after Youngwood joins in March.
Since last year Youngwood also headed up diversity and inclusion at the rival bank.