UBS has made a confident move to raise its profile in Indonesia. Yesterday, the Swiss bank announced that it has hired Annie Margono as its chief representative in the country, with a remit to grow UBS's brand and franchise.
Margono is a well-known figure in Jakarta banking circles. She has more than 20 years' experience in the industry and has held leadership positions in wholesale, trade, corporate and private banking.
She joins from PermataBank (a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank), where she was executive vice-president and head of business development and strategy. Prior to that, she had a 13-year career with American Express Bank (AEB), where, as chief executive officer of AEB Indonesia, she was responsible for expanding market share and growing the bank's profitability.
During her tenure, AEB Indonesia was given the "New Rising Star and Best Performing Bank" award by Infobank in 2007. In 2008 she was instrumental in the successful integration of AEB into Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia. Before that, she was head of private banking at Credit Lyonnais (Indonesia), responsible for setting up the bank's entire private banking operations in the country.
Margono replaces Marco Fleishmann, who left UBS earlier this year. She reports to Susan Co, the Singapore-based regional markets manager for Indonesia and the Philippines.
UBS has still not replaced its former, high-profile country manager, Sarah-Jane Wagg, who, last year, was promoted to a senior role with responsibility for EMEA equities, and is based in her native South Africa.
But, Margono’s appointment indicates that UBS intends to re-vamp its once prominent Indonesian operations, which suffered a decline during the global financial crisis.
