UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti was named European Banker of the Year at the Euro Finance Week in Frankfurt yesterday. His integration achievements were praised as one of his outstanding qualities.

The award has been presented annually since 1994 by business journalists working in Frankfurt and the Chairman of the Management Board of the dfv Euro Finance Group.

Cornelius Riese, CEO of DZ Bank and last year's award recipient, praised the UBS CEO in his laudatory speech. He said there were good reasons why he was brought back to the top after the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse engineered by the Swiss government. During his first term of office, Ermotti set global standards with the realignment of the financial institution following the financial crisis.

Quick and Seamless Integration

In a Linkedin post, RTL/NTV business correspondent Ulrich Reitz also defended the decision. He highlighted how Sergio Ermotti swiftly and seamlessly took over and integrated the struggling Credit Suisse, thereby averting a banking crisis.

In his speech, Ermotti himself criticized both, the supervisory authorities, and the bankers for their role in Credit Suisse's problems. «It was a protracted, strange failure of governance and strategy at Credit Suisse.» The integration of UBS and Credit Suisse could serve as a model, he said. «It could be a kind of blueprint to show that the merger and consolidation of two large banks into a stronger, more diversified institution is possible,» Ermotti is further quoted.