In fact, that is precisely what high net worth individuals (HNWIs), better known as the super rich, have done with SFr2260bn (€1470bn) of their money, for Mr Rohner heads up wealth management at the world’s largest private banking business.
It is less than 15 years since Mr Rohner, who holds a PhD in economics from the University of Zurich, shed his academic tweeds as teaching assistant at Switzerland’s Institute for Empirical Research in Economics to don the pin striped uniform of the discreet Swiss private banker. In 1992, he began his sprint up the UBS ladder (at the old SBC that was merged with UBS), starting as assistant to the bank’s global head of derivatives, where within a year he was able to apply his analytical skills to catapult himself into the job of head of market risk control.
From there it was a dizzying leap to chief risk officer and deputy CEO of private banking and then, in 2002, into the top slot in private banking as CEO of UBS’s wealth management and business banking unit. In two years Mr Rohner has turned the division in a powerful money-spinner for the bank, with profits from his division up SFr700m to SFr4.1bn in the first three quarters of 2004. Now he has cast his eye on expansion opportunities in traditional European onshore markets such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Britain.
Mr Rohner is characteristically tight-lipped about his personal ambitions but few doubt that he envisages the room at the top. And who would ignore his potential to one day become CEO of his country’s largest bank?
Risks: The question some Swiss bankers are asking themselves is whether Mr Rohner has peaked too early. It’s an awkward situation for a 40-year-old sitting on the management board, because he may well be considered too inexperienced and lacking in clout when the job comes up for grabs. On the other hand, if he misses that slot, it could spell years of stagnation before the next opportunity comes his way.
