Liz Cacciottolo is to leave her role as head of UBS’s wealth management operations in Australia to take up a bigger one developing the Swiss bank’s Asia-Pacific business, WealthBriefing can confirm.

In her new role Ms Cacciottolo will be responsible for expanding UBS’s footprint across the Asia-Pacific region. Clark Morgan, currently deputy chief executive of the bank’s Australian wealth management business, will be her successor.

Ms Cacciottolo has been at the helm of UBS’s Australian wealth management business since 2004. Prior to this she headed the bank’s wealth management operations in the UK.

In other developments, the Swiss National Bank said yesterday that although UBS and Credit Suisse have cut their risk exposure, levels remains high by historical standards.

In its annual report on the health of Switzerland’s banking sector, the SNB said that although the banks’ leverage has decreased, losses in the order of roughly 2 per cent of total assets at UBS and 3 per cent at Credit Suisse would currently deplete most of these banks’ capital base unless simultaneous corrective measures were taken. “Second, as a result of the lower profit potential, the big banks’ ability to absorb losses through current earnings has decreased,” the central bank said.

UBS and Credit Suisse, both large wealth managers, have been hit by the credit crunch. However, UBS has sustained by far the larger hit, booking about $50 billion of write-downs from the credit crunch to date and announcing large-scale job cuts.