UBS overhauls risk practices

Swiss bank UBS has appointed Philip Lofts as Group risk chief operating officer and announced that Thomas Daula will join the firm in June 2008 as investment bank (IB) chief risk officer.

Daula’s newly expanded role will include the responsibilities of the IB chief risk officer as well as the IB chief credit officer. Daula was most recently at Morgan Stanley, where he was chief risk officer, and will become a member of the Group managing board, reporting jointly to Jerker Johansson, chairman and CEO of UBS Investment Bank and Joe Scoby, group chief risk officer. Lofts was most recently group chief credit officer for the firm.

‘Tom’s deep understanding of both portfolio risks and risk methodology make him a great addition to our team’ said Scoby.

“These changes are designed to establish a best in class risk control team with an overall view of all risks.

Joe Scoby, group chief risk officer

Within the risk control function, UBS announced the integration of the monitoring and controlling responsibilities of the Group’s market risk and credit risk functions into a single unit. This new unit, to be called Group portfolio and concentration risk control, will have responsibility for the monitoring and controlling of the firm’s overall risk exposure across credit, market and country risk, as well as performing portfolio analytics on risk evolution at the overall portfolio level.

‘These changes are designed to establish a best in class Risk Control team with an overall view of all risks,’ added Scoby. ‘The creation of an integrated portfolio and concentration risk group will help break down any remaining information silos between the different risk functions.’