Andrea Orcel

Andrea Orcel (; born May 14, 1963) is an Italian investment banker who is CEO of UniCredit. He was the president of UBS Investment Bank from November 2014 to September 2018. Orcel started his own boutique investment bank before taking the role at UniCredit.

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. His father ran a small leasing company and his mother worked for the United Nations. Orcel attended the Lycée français Chateaubriand in Rome for secondary school, at his mother's request, so he could learn French in addition to his native Italian. He graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate thesis on hostile takeovers. He went on to attend the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France.

Career Merrill Lynch

After graduating in 1986, Orcel began his career in fixed income at Midland Montagu in 1987. He moved to Goldman Sachs in 1988 and, after completing his MBA at INSEAD, joined Boston Consulting Group in Paris in 1990, remaining there until 1992. In 1992, he was asked to join Merrill Lynch & Co. in their Financial Institutions Group (FIG) in London. Orcel orchestrated the $25 billion (€21.2 billion) merger of Italian banking groups, Credito Italiano and Unicredito to form banking conglomerate UniCredit in 1998. In 2004, Orcel initiated Spanish bank Santander's acquisition of British bank Abbey National, 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 (RBS) in 2007 to advise on a $55 billion (£49 billion) acquisition of ABN Amro. The deal was orchestrated by Orcel after he brought in Fortis and Santander to execute a three-way consortium bid for ABN Amro. For the acquisition, Merrill Lynch received $12 million (£7.5 million) in advisory fees.

In November 2008, Orcel's team at Merrill Lynch valued the Italian bank Banca Antonveneta 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). His bonus sparked an investigation into executive compensation by the New York Attorney General; no charges were brought forward against Orcel or Merrill Lynch. On January 30, 2009, Santander hired Orcel once more to complete their acquisition of Sovereign Bank, in a deal valued at roughly $1.9 billion (€1.4 billion). In February 2011, Orcel brokered the $3.3 billion (€2.9 billion) initial public offering (IPO) of a 10% stake of VTB Bank from the Russian government with his brother Riccardo. Recalled as the "scariest [moment] of his career", he broke through Merrill Lynch's risk limits to secure the deal, drawing widespread industry attention.

UBS

Following the 2011 UBS rogue trader scandal 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 Sfr6.3 million in cash and awarded him Sfr18.5 million in stock options, for a total sign-on bonus of Sfr25 million (£17 million, $26.2 million, or €23 million). In January 2013, following the Libor scandal, Orcel was called before the British Parliament'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: "we all got probably too arrogant, too self-convinced that things were correct the way they were. I think the industry needs to change." Although he was hired in a primarily managerial role, he continued to advise some of the firm's higher profile clients and institutional partners. From early 2013 to late 2014 Orcel initiated a corporate restructuring of the investment bank, to "[stop] trying to be the biggest investment bank and [focus] on being the best". With a focus on return-on-investment (ROI), deleveraging, and cost reduction, Orcel increased majority capital positions while diminishing the size of the bank. In June 2016, Orcel offered MPS–a client of his at Merrill Lynch during the 2008 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. He reportedly handed lists of people to fire to managing directors, with many UBS employees learning of their firing as they came to work and "found their access cards no longer worked." 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 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 Orcel was slated to join Banco Santander as its chief executive from September 2018 to January 2019. In September 2018, Ana Botín announced that Orcel would lead Spanish commercial bank and financial services company Banco Santander as its 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. 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. 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 stating: "If Santander wanted him, it should have paid for him"; 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 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.

CEO UniCredit On January 27, 2021, the board of UniCredit named Orcel as CEO, taking the place of Jean Pierre Mustier. In April 2021, Orcel became the CEO. During his tenure, UniCredit was highlighted as one of Europe's top-performing banks with significant upside potential according to UBS. Additionally, the bank increased its revenue and capital goals as profits exceeded estimates

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". Reports from the Financial Times also highlighted the bank's continued strong financial performance. Moreover, CNBC reported that UniCredit surpassed its 2023 targets following a strong quarter.

Orcel's efforts resulted in him being named Banker of the Year by Euromoney in 2024.

In September 2024 Orcel's declaration that UniCredit had bought a 9% stake in the capital of the German Commerzbank made waves in the German political establishment. The move was praised by Italian MFA Antonio Tajani. The German government owns a large portion of Commerzbank because of its intercession during the 2008 financial crisis.

Management style Orcel's management style has widely been received as valuing hard work and presenteeism, and being performance-driven. Orcel has stated in interviews that his favorite book is Angela Duckworth'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." 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." He rebuffed the calls for change and declined to amend the working hours of UBS junior bankers. quote box "Fiat is not the same as Audi, and Audi is not the same as Porsche, and Porsche is not the same as Ferrari. They are all in the auto industry, but they are addressing different markets and, depending on the dynamic in those segments, they are likely to do better or worse. The revenues are not the key determinant in terms of performance — ROE, or profitability, in terms of what is returned to shareholders, is a more significant measure of success." — Orcel, on the modern investment banking market, February 2017 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 automobile. He similarly uses European football to describe such strategies, referring to UBS as the "Croatia of investment banking" following the 2018 FIFA World Cup final. 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. 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".

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". by the international press and select British government officials. 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 estimated that Orcel was likely "Europe's most famous investment banker." Sophie Perryer, writing for World Finance, analysed the nuances of Orcel's cancelled move to Santander and how "Orcel’s character and personality traits have always been closely entwined with his illustrious career". Orcel continues to be a prominent figure in global finance, focusing on driving growth and innovation both within UniCredit and beyond.

Personal life Orcel speaks five languages fluently.

He is married to Clara Batalim-Orcel, a Portuguese interior designer. They have one daughter. 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 in July 2013 and has occasionally worked with Andrea on mutual deals.

Career statistics

Dealmaking

Sign-ons FromToPositionBonus ($M)Bonus (€M)DateReferencesExecutive Chairman of the Investment Bank$34.0€29.02009 Investment Bank President$26.2€23.02012 Chief Executive Officer (CEO)$21.3€18.52019