Andrea Orcel (; born May 14, 1963) is Group CEO of UniCredit.
He previously served as the president of
UBS Investment Bank
UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Sw ...
from November 2014 to September 2018.
He was poised to take on the role of Chief Executive of
Banco Santander
Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres ...
from September 2018 to January 2019; however, the job offer was later withdrawn which resulted in him taking legal action against Santander.
In December 2021 a judge awarded him €68m in compensation, including 10m for moral damages.
Since early 2020, Orcel has been linked to taking over as CEO at a variety of financial institutions including starting his own
boutique investment bank
A boutique investment bank is a investment bank that specializes in at least one aspect of investment banking, generally corporate finance, although some banks strengths are retail in nature, such as Charles Schwab. Of those involved in corporate ...
, before taking the role of Group CEO at Unicredit.
Born in
Rome, Italy
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
...
, Orcel attended the
University of Rome, Sapienza, graduating with a degree in economics and commerce. He attended the
INSEAD
INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...
business school in Paris before working at
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
and
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...
during the late 1980s. In 1992, he was hired by
Merrill Lynch & Co. where he spent the succeeding twenty years in their
mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
(M&A) department in London. He left Merrill Lynch in 2012 to join Swiss investment bank
UBS
UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...
at the behest of its CEO,
Sergio Ermotti
Sergio Pietro Ermotti (born 11 May 1960) is a Swiss manager and former investment banker. In April 2021, Ermotti was elected Chairman of Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, succeeding Walter Kielholz. He was the Group Chi ...
. From 2012 to 2018, Orcel endured the
2013 Libor trading scandal, led a corporate restructuring, downsized the bank, and increased up M&A activity. In 2021, the board of UniCredit has named Andrea Orcel as the new CEO that will take the place of Jean Pierre Mustier.
Orcel is a controversial figure in European business and international banking. He has been called one of the most successful investment bankers of his generation.
Orcel has also been routinely criticized for his abrasive management style, overworking subordinates, and being hyper-competitive.
Early life and education
Andrea Orcel was born on May 14, 1963 in
Rome, Italy
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
...
.
His father ran a small
leasing
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
company and his mother worked for the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
.
Orcel attended the
Lycée français Chateaubriand
The Lycée français Chateaubriand ( it, Liceo Chateaubriand) is a French international primary and secondary school with two campuses consisting of three buildings in Rome, Italy. Its administration and senior high school/sixth-form college class ...
in Rome for secondary school, at his mother's request, so he could learn French in addition to his native Italian.
Orcel attended the
University of Rome, Sapienza, majoring in economics and commerce.
While a university student Orcel reportedly skipped class, as attendance was optional, and went backpacking in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
before returning to take his final exams.
He has stated that a vacation to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
when he was 18 moved him to go into banking.
He graduated ''
summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' with an undergraduate thesis on
hostile takeovers
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...
.
He went on to attend the
INSEAD
INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...
business school in
Fontainebleau, France
Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement'' ...
.
Career
Merrill Lynch
![Merrill Lynch - panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Merrill_Lynch_-_panoramio.jpg)
Upon his graduation, Orcel was hired by American investment bank
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
in 1988, aged 25, to work in their
fixed income
Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the prin ...
business in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. A year later he left the firm to work as a consultant at
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...
from 1989 to 1992 in their strategy consulting practice in
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. In 1992, he was asked to join
Merrill Lynch & Co. in their Financial Institutions Group (FIG) in London.
Orcel orchestrated the
$25 billion (
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
21.2 billion) merger of Italian banking groups,
Credito Italiano
Credito Italiano also known as just Credit, was an Italian bank, now part of UniCredit. It was merged with Unicredito in 1998, forming Unicredito Italiano (now UniCredit). Circa 1999 to 2002 UniCredit created a new subsidiary of the same name to ru ...
and
UniCredito
Unicredito was an Italian holding company, formed by the owner of banks: the banking foundations of Cassa di Risparmio di Verona, Vicenza, Belluno e Ancona (Cariverona Banca) and Cassa di Risparmio della Marca Trivigiana (Cassamarca), in a ratio of ...
to form banking conglomerate
UniCredit
UniCredit S.p.A. is an international banking group headquartered in Milan. It is Italy's only systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was for ...
in 1998.
UniCredito had originally planned to
go public but the stock market valuation proposed by bankers at a rival investment bank made UniCredito "unhappy".
Orcel called the bank and offered to explore the possibility of a merger with a comparable company as the initial deal was going through; he brought them to Merrill Lynch a week later.
The merger made UniCredit the
largest bank in Italy.
The following year he was the advisor on the $13 billion (€11 billion) merger of
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and
Argentaria
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...
to create
BBVA
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...
.
BBVA became the
second largest bank in Spain after the merger.
Orcel served as the head of the Global FIG team from 2003 to 2007, succeeding
Joseph Willit.
In 2004, Orcel initiated Spanish bank
Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
's acquisition of British bank
Abbey National
The Abbey National Building Society was formed in 1944 by the merger of the Abbey Road and the National building societies.
It was the first building society in the United Kingdom to demutualise, doing so in July 1989. The bank expanded throu ...
, expanding the bank's operations into the United Kingdom in a deal valued at $15.6 billion (£13.8 billion). He was tapped by the
Royal Bank of Scotland Group
NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...
(RBS) in 2007 to advise on a $55 billion (£49 billion) acquisition of
ABN Amro
ABN or abn may refer to:
Companies
* ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group
* ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank
* Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank
Radio, news and television organizat ...
.
The deal was orchestrated by Orcel after he brought in
Fortis and Santander to execute a three-way consortium bid for ABN Amro.
At the time, the bid set a record for the largest merger or acquisition in
financial services history. For the acquisition, Merrill Lynch received $12 million (£7.5 million) in advisory fees.
Months later, the
oncoming financial crisis surfaced, quickly reducing the
capital buffers of banks all over the world, causing major damage to RBS and forcing the UK Government to seize control of it.
The ''
Institutional Investor
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...
'' labeled Orcel "one of the most controversial bankers of the financial crisis".
In November 2008, Orcel's team at Merrill Lynch valued the Italian bank
Banca Antonveneta
Banca Antonveneta S.p.A. was an Italian bank based in Padua, Italy. The bank was absorbed into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in 2013.
In 2008, it was the 9th largest banking group in Italy in terms of customer loans and the 8th largest in terms ...
at $10 billion (€9 billion), advising
Monte dei Paschi (MPS) to acquire it from Santander for the same amount.
Internal valuations of the bank at Santander had Banca Antonveneta valued at $7.4 billion (€6.5 billion).
The deal was described as ill-advised and "flawed" as MPS overpaid $2.85 billion (€2.5 billion) for its new acquisition, leaving it with capital deficiencies in 2016.
In 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis, it was reported that Orcel brought in $550 million (€483 million) in advisory fees for the bank, earning him 2007 compensation of $38 million (£33 million).
His bonus sparked an investigation into executive compensation by the
New York Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
; no charges were brought forward against Orcel or Merrill Lynch.
In July 2008, Orcel advised Santander on its $1.6 billion (€1.45 billion) acquisition of
Alliance & Leicester
Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business demutualised in the middle of 1997, when it was floated on ...
, a British bank and former
building society
A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdo ...
.
On January 30, 2009, Santander hired Orcel once more to complete their acquisition of
Sovereign Bank
Santander Bank, N. A. (), formerly Sovereign Bank, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Spanish Santander Group. It is based in Boston and its principal market is the northeastern United States. It has $57.5 billion in deposits, operates about ...
, in a deal valued roughly at $1.9 billion (€1.4 billion).
In 2009, Orcel was asked to serve as the executive chairman of the investment bank eventually being appointed chief executive of European Card Services. In February 2011, Orcel brokered the $3.3 billion (€2.9 billion)
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
(IPO) of a 10% stake of
VTB Bank
VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered in Saint Petersburg, St. Peter ...
from the Russian government with his brother Riccardo.
Orcel led a team to execute a $8.5 billion (€7.5 billion)
rights offering
A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it can ...
for UniCredit, at the height of the
Eurozone crisis
The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies. ...
in January 2012.
Recalled as the "scariest
omentof his career", he broke through Merrill Lynch's
risk limits to secure the deal, drawing wide-spread industry attention.
In April 2012, Orcel was tapped by Swiss investment bank
UBS
UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...
CEO
Sergio Ermotti
Sergio Pietro Ermotti (born 11 May 1960) is a Swiss manager and former investment banker. In April 2021, Ermotti was elected Chairman of Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, succeeding Walter Kielholz. He was the Group Chi ...
to lead their
sell side
Sell side is a term used in the financial services industry. The three main markets for this selling are the stock, bond, and foreign exchange market. It is a general term that indicates a firm that sells investment services to asset management fi ...
and UK operations.
During this time, Merrill Lynch was being merged with
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
to create
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
BofA Securities, Inc., previously Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), is an American multinational investment banking division under the auspices of Bank of America. It is not to be confused with Merrill, the stock brokerage and trading plat ...
(BAML); the deal was completed in 2013, months after Orcel left with like-minded executives.
Two of Merrill Lynch's largest corporate clients, UniCredit and Santander, reportedly transferred their business to UBS, following Orcel.
UBS
![Eingang UBS Paradeplatz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Eingang_UBS_Paradeplatz.JPG)
Following the
2011 UBS rogue trader scandal
The 2011 UBS rogue trader scandal caused a loss of over US$2 billion at Swiss bank UBS, as a result of unauthorized trading performed by Kweku Adoboli, a director of the bank's Global Synthetic Equities Trading team in London in early September ...
and a corporate restructuring, Orcel was invited to the group executive board and appointed the co-CEO of the investment banking unit of UBS. In November 2012, he was asked to serve as the CEO of UBS AG–the main
private banking unit of UBS Group AG before taking sole control of the investment bank. Upon his acceptance of the position, UBS paid Orcel
Sfr
SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company.
As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...
6.3 million in cash and awarded him Sfr18.5 million in stock options, for a total sign-on bonus of
Sfr
SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company.
As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...
25 million (
£17 million, $26.2 million, or €23 million).
In January 2013, following the
Libor scandal, Orcel was called before the
British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
's banking standards commission to explain the company's role in the scandal. Present for nearly three hours of testimony, he expressed regret for the firm's role and stated to commissioner
Andrew Tyrie
Andrew Guy Tyrie, Baron Tyrie, (born 15 January 1957) is a British politician and former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Chichester from 1997 to 2017. Tyr ...
: "we all got probably too arrogant, too self-convinced that things were correct the way they were. I think
the industry needs to change."
Later that year he was compensated $26 million, in line with a 7% clawback of the company's bonus pool. Although he was hired in a primarily managerial role, he continued to advise some of the firm's higher profile clients and
institutional partners.
In March 2013, Orcel rejoined his brother Riccardo to negotiate an investment into VTB from a Qatari
sovereign wealth fund
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such ...
.
From early 2013 to late 2014 Orcel initiated a
corporate restructuring
Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...
of the investment bank, to "
top
A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.
Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...
trying to be the biggest investment bank and
ocuson being the best".
With a focus on
return-on-investment
Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably ...
(ROI),
deleveraging
At the micro-economic level, deleveraging refers to the reduction of the leverage ratio, or the percentage of debt in the balance sheet of a single economic entity, such as a household or a firm. It is the opposite of leveraging, which is the prac ...
, and cost reduction, Orcel increased majority capital positions while diminishing the size of the bank.
In May 2015, he was the highest earning executive at UBS Group AG, grossing $8 million in base salary.
In June 2016, Orcel offered MPS–a client of his at Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis–$5.6 billion (€5 billion) in debt and equity when it was facing liquidity issues and was reaching out to a handful of banks.
Orcel made this offer to counter a
bailout
A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy.
A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global sys ...
by the Italian government but was jointly rejected by the Italian prime minister
Matteo Renzi
Matteo Renzi (; born 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician who served as prime minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016. He has been a senator for Florence since 2018. Renzi has served as the leader of Italia Viva (IV) since 2019, having been ...
and MPS.
In February 2016, he orchestrated the merger of
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
's and
Liberty Global
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
's operations in the Netherlands to create a joint venture in a deal worth $1.1 billion (€1 billion).
From 2012 to 2017 Orcel fired thousands of employees in order to boost profitability, reducing the company's wage requirements by $3 billion.
He reportedly handed lists of people to fire to managing directors while many UBS employees learned of their firing as they came to work and "found their access cards no longer worked."
In May 2017, he approved a $2.8 billion (€2.6 billion) financing package to Chinese conglomerate
HNA Group
HNA Group Co., Ltd., is a Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it was involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and more. It is a part owner ...
so they could buy a 10% stake in
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
.
In August 2018, an Investment Bank trainee accused one of the managing directors of UBS of drugging and sexually assaulting her at a social gathering in September. Orcel personally invited her to his London office to clarify that the director had been suspended and subsequently resigned. Orcel appeared on ''
Bloomberg Markets
''Bloomberg Markets'' is a magazine published six times a year by Bloomberg L.P. as part of Bloomberg News. Aimed at global financial professionals, ''Bloomberg Markets'' publishes articles on the people and issues related to global financial mar ...
'' later that day explaining a revamped infrastructure and process of handling sexual misconduct at the company, noting it must be "completely eradicated". In the months preceding October 2018, Orcel reportedly "lobbied intensely" to be the next CEO of UBS.
After giving in to Orcel, UBS put him directly in line to succeed Ermotti.
Santander
![Santander](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Santander.Banco.Santander.Detalle.jpg)
In September 2018,
Ana Botín
Ana Patricia Botín-Sanz de Sautuola O'Shea, DBE (born 4 October 1960) is a Spanish banker who has served as the executive chairman of Santander Group since 2014. She is the fourth generation of the Botín family to hold this role. Prior to th ...
announced that Orcel would lead Spanish commercial bank and financial services company
Banco Santander
Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres ...
as its
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
(CEO), starting early 2019. Orcel formally left UBS on September 30, 2018.
His appointment to the chief executive made him the first non-Spanish individual to be nominated for such a high-ranking position at the company.
Despite being a traditional mergers and acquisitions banker, Orcel expressed interest in staving off banking
digitization
DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a Digital data, digital (i ...
instead of acquiring more banks or merging with other large banks.
As Orcel left UBS his employment contract included
variable remuneration valued at $21.3 million (€18.5 million).
Santander agreed to pay Orcel this remuneration as a part of his
sign-on bonus on October 19, 2018, if UBS did not pay it.
In January 2019 UBS refused to pay out his
deferred stock options, enforcing a "hard-lined" departure policy.
This triggered his offer of employment at Santander to absorb the complete cost of those deferred stock options.
The total amount Santander had to pay to hire Orcel increased from $21.3 million to more than $50.7 million (€50 million). One estimate had the total cost of Orcel's contract to be as high as $60 million. Santander could only cover a third of that amount.
Orcel was released from his contract and regained his UBS deferred stock options. Industry reaction to the news was mixed with ''
Euromoney
''Euromoney'' is an English-language monthly magazine focused on business and finance. First published in 1969, it is the flagship production of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc.
History and profile
''Euromoney'' was first published in 19 ...
'' stating: "If Santander wanted him, it should have paid for him";
''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' noted the political backlash Santander would face for hiring Orcel after
Spain's 2008–2014 financial crisis. The Spanish bank offered Orcel capital to start his own investment bank after withdrawing their job offer but he declined. In July 2019, Orcel launched a €100 million ($113 million)
breach-of-contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
lawsuit against Santander. In December 2021, a court in Madrid ruled that he should be awarded €68m in compensation from Santander. This figure was adjusted in January 2022 to €51.4m of which €18.6m was to be in the form of Santander shares over seven years, plus an additional €10m for moral and reputational damage.
Post-Santander
On January, 27th 2021, the board of UniCredit has named Andrea Orcel as the new CEO that will take the place of
Jean Pierre Mustier.
In March 2022, Orcel received criticism over his pay packet of $2.7 million. In a letter signed by Andrea Vintani, the bank argued that the amount was 'in line with compensation at other comparable banks' and was 'between the median and third quartile' of their European peers and that any arguments made against it were 'incorrect and may lead to wrong conclusions'.
Management style
Orcel's
management style
Management consists of the planning, prioritizing, and organizing work efforts to accomplish objectives within a business organization. A management style is the particular way managers go about accomplishing these objectives. It encompasses the wa ...
has widely been received as valuing hard work and
presenteeism
Presenteeism or working while sick is the act or culture of employees continuing to work as a performative measure, despite having reduced productivity levels or negative consequences. Reduced productivity during presenteeism is often due to illnes ...
, and being performance-driven. Orcel has stated in interviews that his favorite book is
Angela Duckworth
Angela Lee Duckworth (born 1970) is an American academic, psychologist, and popular science author. She is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies grit and self-control. She is a ...
's ''
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance'', whose central thesis is that "the secret to success is not raw talent, but rather a blend of passion and persistence."
Orcel's personality and
management philosophy
Management fad is a term used to characterize a change in philosophy or operations implemented by a business or institution.
The term is subjective and tends to be used in a pejorative sense, as it implies that such a change is being implemented ...
has been criticized for not facilitating team work, isolating those who do not perform, and being high maintenance.
In response to this criticism, he has stated that he was "not easy" and "demanding" but not willing to "ask for something I'm not doing myself."
Additionally, he has stated that people should not "generalize what a few people with an objective say about
im"
In May 2015, he also denied allegations that he asked junior bankers to skip vacations and come in on holidays.
Orcel was quoted as respecting a banker's choice to "cancel their holidays themselves so they can stick around to help with a deal", but doesn't demand it of them.
After a
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
intern died from working 72 hours straight in 2013, many banking executives, including Orcel, were pressured to reform their scheduling.
He rebuffed the calls for change and declined to amend the working hours of UBS junior bankers.
Multiple profiles of Orcel undertaken by the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' describe him as 'voraciously competitive', capable of "
osinghis temper in a
typical Italian way", "
houting
The houting (''Coregonus oxyrhynchus'') is a European, allegedly extinct species of whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is native to the estuaries and rivers draining to the North Sea. The houting is distinguishable from other ''Coregonus'' t ...
at people sometimes".
Orcel has repeatedly stated that, due to the competitive nature of banking, one-in-four (25%) of
mergers and acquisition (M&A) bankers do not make it past entry-level positions. Orcel frequently uses the Italian auto-manufacturer
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
to describe his affection for "focused" and "lean" execution of strategies as opposed to
bigger, less versatile banks, i.e. as opposed to a
Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
automobile.
He similarly uses
European football
UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur assoc ...
to describe such strategies, referring to UBS as the "
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
of investment banking" following the
2018 FIFA World Cup final
The 2018 FIFA World Cup Final was the final match of the 2018 World Cup, the 21st edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, on 15 July 2018, and was contested by F ...
. In June 2016, Orcel led an initiative where UBS bankers were granted two hours of "personal time" every week in order to boost
work–life balance
Work may refer to:
* Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community
** Manual labour, physical work done by humans
** House work, housework, or homemaking
** Working animal, an animal tr ...
. On March 31, 2017, Orcel expressed his affection for
shared parental leave and voiced his support for the
growing movement in Europe to let fathers and mothers take extended time off of work to be with newly born and young children. In April 2018 Orcel issued an internal memo to UBS managing directors requiring that they hold 250 to 300 client meetings a year.
This memo reportedly initiated a mass exodus of senior investment bank leadership in late 2017, as the latest in a series of "frequently changing strategies".
Shortly after announcing the new directive, Orcel initiated a client meeting monitoring system that culminated in further departures.
Employees of the bank who missed meeting targets received e-mail rebukes from Orcel and other executives.
An unnamed senior executive at the investment bank stated: "
ndrea Orcelis the best banker I've ever worked with and the worst manager I've ever seen" after the directive hit international presses.
On October 15, 2018, Orcel was at the center of a ''
Financial News London'' editorial investigation into his management style.
The editorial team interviewed a variety of UBS executives with whom he had worked with from November 2012 to September 2018.
The report concluded that Orcel had a "pattern of aggressive behavior towards other executives".
Select accounts asserted that Orcel pursued
personal vendettas against detractors, often wishing to "make examples of out
is colleagues.
Unnamed UBS executives argued that the report sensationalized internal misunderstandings and communication failures.
UBS and Santander both issued statements that disagreed with the characterization and findings of the report.
Public image and legacy
Orcel has been called the "Ronaldo of investment banking"
(in reference to footballer
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
)
and a "deal junkie" by the international press and select British government officials.
Spanish media has called him ''
el tiburón de las finanzas globales'' ("the shark of global finance"). In France and Italy, he is known as the ''
requin alpha de la finance'' ("alpha shark of finance") and the ''
re dei deal-maker'' ("king of deal makers"), respectively. After moving from UBS to Santander in 2019, the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' estimated that Orcel was likely "Europe's most famous investment banker."
He has been noted by ''Financial Times'' as one of "the most successful investment bankers of his generation".
From 1988 to 2018, Orcel was widely seen as "
rchestratingsome of the world's biggest corporate transactions."
Journalist
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Andrew Ross Sorkin (born February 19, 1977) is an American journalist and author. He is a financial columnist for ''The New York Times'' and a co-anchor of CNBC's ''Squawk Box.'' He is also the founder and editor of DealBook, a financial news s ...
, writing for the ''New York Times'', summarized Orcel's legacy with: "
ewas brash ...
e had abrusque management style."
His unsuccessful move from UBS to Santander in 2019, was seen by ''
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
'', as "
rupture that ... turned into one of the bitterest and highest-profile employment disputes in
recent European history." Sophie Perryer, writing for
''World Finance'', stated that, "Despite holding semi-
reverential status among many of his peers," Orcel's legacy was marked by "consistent courting of controversy" and "exorbitant price tags."
Personal life
A known
polyglot
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...
, he speaks five European languages:
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
,
French,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
, fluently.
His younger brother, Riccardo, worked as an investment banker with Orcel at
Merrill Lynch & Co. during the late 2000s.
He was appointed deputy chief executive of
VTB Bank
VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered in Saint Petersburg, St. Peter ...
in July 2013 and has occasionally worked with Andrea on mutual deals.
Career statistics
Dealmaking
Sign-ons
See also
*
List of Sapienza University of Rome alumni
*
List of INSEAD alumni
INSEAD (Institut européen d'administration des affaires) has more than 50,000 alumni worldwide, comprising more than 150 nationalities.
Academia
*Julie Battilana, PhD, the Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Busine ...
*
List of former employees of Goldman Sachs
This list of former employees of Goldman Sachs catalogs notable alumni of the New York City-based investment bank in different fields.
* Jacob Aarup-Andersen – head of banking for Danske Bank
* Bradley Abelow – Former Chief of Staff and Tre ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orcel, Andrea
Living people
1960 births
Italian bankers
Italian business executives
Italian chief executives
Chief executives in the finance industry
Bank presidents and chief executive officers