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Marcel Ospel

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Marcel Ospel
Ospel at the St. Gallen Symposium in 2003
Born
Marcel Louis Ospel

(1950-02-08)February 8, 1950
Basel, Switzerland
DiedApril 26, 2020(2020-04-26) (aged 70)
Wollerau, Switzerland
OccupationBanker
Known forFormer CEO and chairman of UBS
Spouses
Margot Baur
(m. 1973; div. 1994)
Andrée Cécile Koechlin
(m. 1995; div. 2002)
Adriana Cornelia Bodmer
(m. 2006)
Children6

Marcel Louis Ospel (8 February 1950 – 26 April 2020) was a Swiss investment banker and executive who has been the longtime CEO and chairman of UBS. With an estimated net worth of 150–200 Million Swiss Francs, he was among the wealthiest Swiss citizens estimated by Handelszeitung.[1]

Early life and education

[edit]

Ospel was born 8 February 1950 in Basel, Switzerland, the oldest of three children, to Louis Ospel, a confectioner turned businessman, originally from Germany, and his wife Doris. He was raised in a modest household in Kleinbasel, the industrial and Rhine port area of town.

He dropped out of school and ultimately started a banking apprenticeship in 1965 at the local branch of French bank Transvalor. After gaining first work experience in Basel, Geneva and London, he studied Economics at HWV Basel (currently FHNW), graduating with a diploma in 1977.[2]

Career

[edit]

Ospel joined the marketing and planning division of the Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) shortly after graduating.[3] He rose to become the bank's head and the architect of its 1998 merger with the Union Bank of Switzerland to what is now UBS.[4] The new bank, of which he became CEO, was then the second-largest bank in the world.[5]

Ospel stepped down as CEO in 2001 to become chairman of the board of directors, but retained tight operational control over UBS.[4] In this role, he refused to continue financing the ailing national airline Swissair and was considered by many to share responsibility for its collapse in 2001.[3][5] His annual salary of up to CHF 26 million – exceptional in Switzerland but less so in international banking – was another topic of frequent controversy during his tenure as chairman.[3]

In the 2000s, Ospel pursued an aggressive growth strategy in investment banking and structured finance, acquiring Paine Webber among others, and was considered to be one of the most powerful men in Switzerland.[5] But his strategy resulted in CHF 80 billion of losses to UBS[5] with the collapse of UBS's Dillon, Read & Co. investment bank during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Ospel was forced to resign in April 2008, following pressure by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, and UBS had to seek a government bailout in October 2008.[3] In retirement, Ospel remained active as a private investor,[4] but remained a target of public criticism and occasional protests on account of his former salary and his leadership of UBS.[5]

Personal life

[edit]

In 1973, Ospel firstly married Margot Baur. The marriage ended in divorce.[6] They had two children;

  • Philipp "Phil" Ospel(l) (born 1981), an actor and writer.[8]

In 1995, Ospel married Andrée Cécile Koechlin, a daughter of Peter Koechlin and Muriel Koechlin (née von Wyttenbach), of the Swiss line of the Koechlin family who belonged among the upper class, the Daig, in Basel, Switzerland.[9][10] Her mother hailed from Bernese Patrician families. In 2002, they were divorced, before the birth of their son. They have two children;

  • Donald Ospel (born 2002)[11][12]
  • Séverine Ospel (born 2003)[13]

On 26 May 2006, aged 56, he married Adriana Cornelia Bodmer (born 1976), then a 30-year-old economist of the Bodmer family, in a private ceremony in Pfäffikon, Schwyz on Lake Zurich. On 1 January 2009, she gave birth to twins.[14][15]

He was an avid deer hunter and owned a hunting estate in Austria.[20] During the Carnival of Basel, Ospel usually played the Basel drum.[21] He was a supporter and member of the Swiss People's Party.[22]

Ospel died on 26 April 2020 aged 70 of cancer at his home in Wollerau.[23][5][24][25][3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Die reichsten Manager unter den 300 Reichsten". Handelszeitung (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  2. ^ "Marcel Ospel - Munzinger Biographie". www.munzinger.de. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e Baches, Zoé. "Marcel Ospel ist tot". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Ex-UBS Chairman Marcel Ospel Dies". finews.asia. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Jones, Sam (27 April 2020). "Former UBS chairman Marcel Ospel dies at 70". Financial Times. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  6. ^ Hug, von Dominik (16 February 2008). "Marcel Ospels Sohn Phil". Blick (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  7. ^ Ercolani, Sacha (3 September 2016). "Ospel kauft sich eine Bekleidungsfirma". Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  8. ^ Hug, von Dominik (16 February 2008). "Marcel Ospels Sohn Phil". Blick (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Adriana & Marcel Ospel: Ein Blick für reiche Frauen". www.woz.ch (in German). 27 November 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  10. ^ "Der Bund 14 December 1994 — e-newspaperarchives.ch". www.e-newspaperarchives.ch. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  11. ^ Radio X Basel (11 November 2018). Tabea Steiner und Donald Ospel an der Buch Basel 2018 Erzählte Erinnerungen. Retrieved 16 March 2025 – via YouTube.
  12. ^ "Marcel Ospel obituary". www.thetimes.com. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  13. ^ "International Hockey Federation". tms.fih.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  14. ^ "Hochzeit: Mr. und Mrs. Ospel". Handelszeitung (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  15. ^ "Die Ospel-Zwillinge sind da!". Blick (in Swiss High German). 9 January 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Marcel Ospel obituary". www.thetimes.com. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  17. ^ "Am Interclub-Final auf drittem Rang klassiert". march24.ch (in German). Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  18. ^ "Marcel Ospel obituary". www.thetimes.com. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  19. ^ "Junioren Interclub 2021". tcried.ch (in German). Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  20. ^ "Freizeit: Aufregende Entspannung". Handelszeitung (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  21. ^ Bild des Tages: Marcel Ospel an der Fasnacht - 10 vor 10 - Play SRF. Retrieved 16 March 2025 – via www.srf.ch.
  22. ^ "Blochers teuerste Mission". Basler Zeitung (in German). 20 December 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  23. ^ Stanley Reed: Marcel Ospel, Architect of the Swiss Bank UBS, Is Dead at 70. In: New York Times, 22. Mai 2020.
  24. ^ Revill, John (27 April 2020). "Swiss banker Marcel Ospel, who helped create UBS, dies at 70". Nasdaq.
  25. ^ "Swiss banker Marcel Ospel, who helped create UBS, dies at 70". Malay Mail. 27 April 2020.
Business positions
Preceded by
Created
Group CEO of UBS AG
1999–2001
Succeeded by