Money world

It may be no coincidence that Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) chose John Cryan — a veteran dealmaker — as its next finance chief, just as it is splitting its business in three separate units.

The world’s biggest bank to the rich ushered the 47-year old Briton in as it made a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss, something that may yet come in useful if the bank chose to hive off assets such as its embattled investment bank.

“(Cryan) is a clear, bright thinker and because he is a corporate financier he might like to do deals,” said a former senior investment banker who has worked with Cryan.

“And that in the context of UBS probably means disinvestments of certain business parts,” he added.

UBS said on Tuesday it would transform its business into three autonomous units, saying disposals were possible in the future, although none were planned for now.

Cryan’s track record shows he knows how to split up a bank.

Last year he helped Dutch bank ABN Amro sell itself to a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), in what remains the biggest ever takeover of a bank.

Cryan currently heads up the financial institutions group at UBS’s investment bank http://payday-nofax.com. He will replace Marco Suter — an ally of former chairman and UBS architect Marcel Ospel who was toppled in the crisis — on Sept 1. 

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