February 28, 2011, 8:23 am
UBS Hires Washington Insiders
By BEN PROTESS
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/ubs-hires-washington-insiders/?pagemode=print________________________
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UBS has appointed two prominent politicos to major roles in its wealth management division, a move that could improve the Swiss bank’s injured reputation in Washington.
Mona Sutphen, formerly President Obama’s deputy chief of staff, will lead macro analysis for UBS Wealth Management. Alexander S. Friedman, a Defense Department official in the Clinton administration and the chief financial officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be the division’s chief investment officer, a newly created position at UBS. The bank also hired Mark Haefele, a Boston hedge fund manager, to lead investment analysis.“The creation of the chief investment officer function illustrates our genuine commitment to financial performance for our clients,” Jürg Zeltner, the UBS Wealth Management chief executive, said in a statement. “Friedman, Sutphen and Haefele’s extensive knowledge and complementary skills will be greatly beneficial to our organization and our clients.”
Before joining the Obama presidential campaign in 2008, Ms. Sutphen was a managing director at Stonebridge International, a business strategy firm founded by a former United States national security adviser, Sandy Berger. Ms. Sutphen knew Mr. Berger from the Clinton administration, where she worked for him on the staff of the National Security Council. In the Obama administration, Ms. Sutphen advised the president on domestic policy and international issues. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Friedman, who will join UBS on Tuesday, is not new to private finance. Before becoming the Gates Foundation’s chief financial officer, he was an investment banker at Lazard. After leaving the foundation in 2010, he managed Asymmetry, a private investment vehicle. He also was a White House fellow and an assistant to the secretary of Defense for special projects in the Clinton administration.
UBS’s new ties to Washington come at an crucial time for the bank. It has comes under fire in Washington for providing tax shelters to American clients. After facing a Justice Department investigation and fierce criticism from lawmakers, the bank agreed to turn over more than 50,000 customer names and pay $780 million to the United States government.
After UBS served an 18-month probation for selling offshore tax evasion services, the Justice Department dropped criminal charges against the bank last year.
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