UBS Hires Former Barclays Executive Foresman for Investment Bank

(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG hired Bob Foresman, formerly the head of Russian operations at Barclays Plc, to be vice chairman of its investment bank.

Foresman, who will join the Swiss lender on Oct. 3, will be based in New York and report to Andrea Orcel, chief executive of the investment bank, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News on Wednesday.

Foresman’s role “will center around maintaining and building out our relationships across the U.S. and more broadly,” Orcel wrote in the note. He will also work to improve the bank’s relationships in Russia using his “knowledge of the political and corporate landscape.”

Barclays moved to shut its Russian office and cut jobs in London and New York in one of Jes Staley’s first acts as chief executive of the British bank. By contrast, Orcel signaled in July he would hold off further job cuts after years of dramatic role reductions that have reshaped the investment-banking industry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Partington in London at rpartington@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Cindy Roberts, Ross Larsen