UBS to lose group banking book risk manager

Senior risk manager of Swiss banks’ combined banking books to leave for new opportunities

Copyright UBS

Eric Schaanning, head of risk management for the combined deposit and loan books of UBS and Credit Suisse, will leave in the first quarter of next year to pursue new opportunities within banking, according to a source with knowledge of his planned departure.

Schaanning joined UBS when the Swiss bank acquired its local rival in June, after the failure of regional US banks led nervy depositors to withdraw their deposits from Credit Suisse. That same month, Schaanning had taken on the role as head of group banking book risk management at Credit Suisse. This was expanded in September to include the combined books of the merged banks. 

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He is the latest in a throng of former Credit Suisse personnel departing UBS following the acquisition.

Before March, Zurich-based Schaanning had been responsible for treasury and asset and liability management risk management for Credit Suisse entities located in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 2021, he was a principal financial stability expert at the European Systemic Risk Board. 

In September this year, Schaanning along with three of his colleagues from UBS – all writing in a personal capacity – published a research paper exposing gaps within regulatory tests designed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision for identifying those banks most at risk from changes in interest rates. 

The paper demonstrated how a bank could position the maturities of its assets and liabilities to comfortably pass the so-called supervisory outlier tests while posing severe risks of losses from rate changes. The paper emphasises the need for banks to carry out reverse stress testing, whereby they seek out the scenario that would result in the worst-case losses to their banking books.

A spokesperson for UBS declined to comment.