Peter A. Wuffli (born 26 October 1957) is a Swiss businessman who was appointed president and chief executive officer of

UBS AG UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major fina ...

in December 2001 after having been chief executive of UBS Asset Management and the company's chief financial officer.

Education and personal life

He is a Swiss citizen and graduated from the University of St. Gallen in 1981 and earned a doctorate in 1984. He also attended the Advanced Management Program at

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He and his wife Susanna have three children. His father Heinz R. Wuffli was general director of

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

from 1967 to 1977, when he resigned as a consequence of the

Chiasso Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...

affair.

Career

In 1984, he joined

McKinsey & Co McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey ...

as management consultant and in 1990 became a partner of McKinsey Switzerland's senior management. From 1994 to 1998, he was the

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

at SBC and a member of SBC's group executive board in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. After the 1998 merger of SBC and

, Wufflii was appointed president of the Group Executive Board in 2001 and became CEO in 2003. In May 2006 Wuffli heralded UBS’s acquisition of Brazilian Banco Pactual as an opening for UBS into one of the world’s fastest growing financial markets and an excellent basis for growth in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and throughout

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Wuffli left as a CEO

on 6 July 2007 and renounced about $10 million in payments. On July 7, 2007 UBS declined to comment on Wuffli’s leaving, only confirming that his departure, a decision which was taken in a regular board meeting in Valencia, Spain, was based on the review of the position. Analysts and investors suspected the drop in profits, hedge fund losses and the underperformance of its shares to be the reason, and as a possible indication of the bank’s shifting core business to wealth and investment management. In February 2009 it became known that multi-billion dollar write-downs had sparked the sudden 2007 departure of Peter Wuffli as CEO. In November 2018 it was reported that Wuffli had joined the new financial services operator Sygnum as advisor. In July 2019, Wuffli was nominated to Sygnum's board of directors.

Other engagements

In December 2006, Wuffli and his wife founded The Elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization. He is chairman of the board of Partners Group Holding, a board member of the

Zurich Opera House The Zurich Opera House () is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zurich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zurich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to Ballett Zürich. I ...

, member of the executive committee and chairman of the board of IMD

International Institute for Management Development International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is an independent academic institute with campuses in Lausanne, Switzerland and Singapore. IMD is known for its executive education and its proximity to business. In 2024, it named David B ...

in Lausanne. He was president of the Friends of the FDP ''(Freunde der FDP)'' association, founded 2004 to support the Swiss FDP political party.

Publications

* ''Liberale Ethik. Orientierungsversuch im Zeitalter der Globalisierung''. Stämpfli Verlag, Bern 2010, * ''Inclusive Leadership'', ''A Framework for the Global Era.'' Springer 2016,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wuffli, Peter 1957 births Living people Management consultants McKinsey & Company people Businesspeople from Zurich Swiss businesspeople University of St. Gallen alumni Swiss chief executives Chief financial officers