UBS has appointed John Straus as head of Private Wealth Management, the group that serves the Swiss bank’s ultra high net worth clients in t...

UBS has appointed John Straus as head of Private Wealth Management, the group that serves the Swiss bank’s ultra high net worth clients in the US, with immediate effect. Mr Straus was previously at JP Morgan Chase where he was a managing director and head of the US Private Bank until 2005. Prior to that he was in a similar role at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Mr Straus will be based in New York and will report to Marten Hoekstra, head of UBS Wealth Management US. The role Mr Straus is taking on at UBS was previously filled by Anthony DeChellis, who earlier this year left UBS to join Credit Suisse. He takes over from Stewart Brenner who was has been fulfilling the role on an interim basis and who will remain at the bank. Mr Straus will be responsible for the strategic direction and management of the Private Wealth Management Group, catering to the ultra high net worth segment of the US wealth market, defined as those having at least $10 million in investable assets or a net worth of at least $25 million. In July UBS opened its first US office dedicated to serving the firm’s ultra high net worth clients. An initial group of 13 private wealth advisors, three private bankers and related service personnel offers a range of brokerage, trust and private banking services to ultra high net worth clients from one location. A UBS spokeswoman told WealthBriefing that the bank is planning to role out these services to between 10 and 15 offices in the US.