UBS manager moves to Swiss banking oversight body

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BERN, Switzerland -UBS AG manager Mark Branson, who last year apologized for the bank's assistance to U.S. tax evaders, has been appointed to the board of Switzerland's financial services authority, the body said Tuesday.

Branson will head FINMA's division for banks as of Jan. 1, 2010, the group said in a statement.

Branson in 2008 apologized to a U.S. Senate panel for UBS' assistance to U.S. tax evaders and announced that the bank would accelerate its withdrawal from the U.S. cross-border business. He was chief financial officer of UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking at the time.

Under intense legal and political pressure from Washington, the Swiss government agreed earlier this year that UBS will divulge names of some 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of dodging taxes through secret bank accounts.

Branson, a British citizen, has worked for UBS for more than 11 years.

In a separate announcement Tuesday, UBS said it appointed American Robert J. McCann to head its domestic wealth management business in the United States and Canada.

McCann previously worked for over 26 years at Merill Lynch, where he presided over the Global Wealth Management division.

2009-10-27 07:25:26