Ralph Hamers, the former chief executive of UBS, has resurfaced at an AI-based wealth management startup founded by former Google executives.
It is the Dutchman’s first role since he left the Swiss bank 18 months ago.
At the time, Hamers was the highest-paid bank CEO but left just before UBS agreed to take over its stricken rival Credit Suisse.
Hamers was in the running to take on the CEO role at UK asset manager Schroders before the appointment of its chief financial officer Richard Oldfield.
Instead, Hamers has been named as an external senior adviser at California-based Arta Finance.
The startup describes itself as a union of “deep tech and high finance” and provides AI-powered advisory services to clients with more than $1 million in assets.
Wealth managers expect AI to transform their business
The wealth management startup has recently expanded its offering to Singapore and is also planning to open in India.
Hamers was reportedly hired by UBS for his affinity with digital wealth management and in 2022 tried to arrange the acquisition of investment app Wealthfront in a deal worth $1.4 billion.
However, the deal fell through. Hamers was also dogged by money laundering allegations related to his time running Dutch bank ING, prior to joining UBS in 2020.
“A central focus of my leadership has been to take legacy businesses and digitalise, integrating front-to-back technology to drive efficiencies and make the lives of clients and colleagues easier,” said Hamers. “This often needs major and multi-year transformations in well-established organisations.
“With Arta, I see the enormous opportunity of having incredibly smart people from the worlds of technology and finance coming together to build a platform that is more than ready to take its place amongst the world’s leading wealth managers.”
