There’s nothing like a good piece of news management. UBS had the chance to show its skills with its handling of Markus Granziol’s departure.
Granziol’s decision to resign as chairman of UBS Warburg in May was not a complete shock. It was always likely after he lost the post of chief executive of investment banking at the same time as UBS chairman Marcel Ospel removed Luqman Arnold from the presidency of the group executive board.
Nevertheless the timing of the move was unexpected. UBS’s reaction was more of a surprise, though, as later that day it issued a press release headed: “UBS expands leadership team”.
The puzzling statement read: “UBS today announces a broadening and strengthening of its leadership team, reinforcing its partnership approach and integrated business model.”
To be fair, the announcement did contain some useful information. The bank has added four people to its group executive board, including a deputy president and a chairman of wealth management and business banking. It has also expanded its group managing board from 36 to 50.
President of UBS Peter Wuffli was quoted as saying: “These changes demonstrate more visibly than ever UBS’s commitment to meritocracy and global partnership. I am confident that this further deepening of cross-business teamwork will accelerate our growing momentum.”
But what’s this? Tucked away in the penultimate paragraph, after several column inches of CV details of each new group executive board member, more determined readers could find this sentence: “UBS also announces that Markus Granziol, chairman of UBS Warburg, has decided to leave UBS at the end of August 2002 …UBS is immensely grateful for his huge contribution.”
