UBS has hired Aashish Kamat for a new role supporting financial institutions coverage at the investment bank.
He will work alongside bankers in the financial institutions group (FIG) to structure customised investment banking solutions and products for its clients, and will have the title of chairman of financial institutions coverage for the investment bank. He will report to Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and Chi-Won Yoon, co-chairmen and CEOs of UBS in Asia-Pacific.
A banker for 22 years, Kamat was most recently chief financial officer and chief operating officer for J.P. Morgan in Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong. Before he moved to Asia, Kamat was global controller of the investment bank at J.P. Morgan. During his career, he also spent four years at Bank of America where he was CFO of the investment bank.
Kamat left J.P. Morgan in October last year. The bank’s Asia-Pacific regional controller Michael Manning has been acting CFO since his departure.
“Aashish brings a wealth of banking industry knowledge across accounting, regulatory, risk and performance management, capital allocation and operations,” said an internal UBS memo that FinanceAsia has seen. “These are areas that have become critical focal points for our FIG clients and us, especially with the proposed changes in the regulatory and accounting rules coming out of the crisis.”
Kamat is expected to straddle various divisions of the investment bank for UBS’s FIG clients, said a source close to the development. The source also drew a parallel between this hire and the recent hire of Kenneth Kwok, who is also an industry veteran with almost two decades of experience in investment banking. He joined UBS as president of its Greater China business, charged with delivering investment banking products to the Swiss bank’s ultra-rich clients.
However, they differ in that Kwok has spent his career in client-facing roles, while Kamat has generally played a role internal to the bank. UBS might be reckoning that Kamat’s experience of managing key functions at a bank can be marketed to FIG clients seeking to set up similar systems and processes, and comply with enhanced regulatory requirements.
Kamat will join UBS on June 1 and will be based in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan yesterday appointed Andrew Butcher to a newly created position of chief administrative officer for Asia-Pacific. It is an internal role, which charges him with oversight responsibility for all operational and administrative functions for the region, including technology and operations, corporate real estate, human resources, security, corporate social responsibility and marketing and communications, across all business lines.
Butcher has had a 23-year career with Citi across Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and London. Most recently, he was head of operations and technology for Citi in Asia-Pacific. He starts at J.P. Morgan in the third quarter of this year and will be based in Hong Kong.
