As chairman of the board of directors of the mega bank made up of UBS and CS, he is suddenly in the limelight. Who is the Irishman with the poker face?
Dark blue suit, white shirt, blue patterned tie and decorative black and gold cufflinks. This is how Colm Kelleher presented himself to the media last Sunday. While the magistrates explain that UBS should swallow up Credit Suisse, he sits there quietly. All poker face.
He will be responsible for over 120,000 employees in the future. He is aware that the coming days and weeks will be difficult, especially for the employees. And promises: “Let me assure you that we will do our utmost to keep this period of uncertainty as short as possible.” What that means exactly is unclear.
He speaks of the conservative strategy of UBS, which has just sealed the largest takeover in the company’s history, and assures that UBS will remain “rock solid”.
It is not the first time that he has steered a bank through turbulent times: Former Wall Street banker Kelleher led US bank Morgan Stanley through the financial crisis of 2008 as chief financial officer.
That’s why Kelleher was so calm at the media conference, says Dirk Schütz. The “Bilanz” editor-in-chief was one of the few German-speaking journalists who was able to conduct a major interview with Kelleher: “He has now once again applied the calm that he learned in the long crisis.”
Kelleher is an investment banker, but not the glamorous speculator type. But true to his own motto “Bankers should be boring”. Schütz got to know Kelleher as an open person who likes to approach people.
From historian to banker
Kelleher was born on May 30, 1957 in Southern Ireland into a very Catholic family. The Kellehers soon moved from poor Ireland to northern England, where his father ran a medical practice. Education changed his life, Colm Kelleher explains at a charity event. As one of nine children, he went to a high school run by Christian brothers. And the university made a career possible for him that would otherwise have been unthinkable.
Kelleher studied history at Oxford and actually wanted to do a doctorate. But he wasn’t clever enough for science, he told the Business Times Singapore. So he joined a small bank in London. He has remained loyal to the banking business ever since.
Three decades at Morgan Stanley
After a stint in auditing, he worked his way up to number two at the US bank Morgan Stanley over the course of 30 years. As President, he was responsible for all day-to-day business. Three years ago he actually wanted to retire.
Kelleher earned enough at Morgan Stanley, says “Bilanz” editor-in-chief Schütz: “Making important decisions close to the markets and the topicality – that drives him.” And because he loves his work so much, the boring banker is suddenly back in the limelight.