UBS hires dealmaker Orcel - FT.com UBS has hired Andrea Orcel, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's executive chairman of global banking and markets and one of the City's most successful dealmakers to co-head its investment bank. The move to bring Mr Orcel alongside UBS banker Carsten Kengeter is set to be approved by the Swiss bank's board later on Thursday, people close to the situation said. The co-head structure, a common feature in the investment banking world, would see Mr Orcel taking over responsibility for the advisory side of the business while Mr Kengeter would take charge of the sales and trading unit. The management change marked a coup for UBS following a string of bad news in its investment banking unit in the past few years, which peaked last autumn with a $2.25bn trading scandal and the departure of the bank's chief executive. With the Italian dealmaker among the best paid bankers in the world, it will send a strong signal to its staff that the bank is prepared to invest and expand in key areas despite its drastically reduced ambitions in its trouble-ridden investment banking unit. UBS has been scaling back the unit after enormous losses during the financial crisis. But securing someone of Mr Orcel's reputation will be widely seen as an impressive achievement for Sergio Ermotti, UBS" chief executive. The move will also cement Mr Kengeter's role at the bank, which has been in doubt ever since last year's rogue trading scandal. But it deals a further blow to BofA's ambitions in Europe following the departure of a string of senior executives in the wake of the takeover of Merrill Lynch in 2008. It comes as Jonathan Moulds, one of the bank's most senior London-based executives and president of its European operations, is also set to leave the bank. Mr Orcel had been the lead dealmaker at Merrill Lynch for years. His most recent coup had been to secure a €7.5bn rights issue for Italian bank UniCredit, against the difficult background of the eurozone financial crisis. Mr Orcel had eyed leaving the bank several times before and was considered by the UniCredit board as a potential CEO. He has long had a fractious relationship with Christian Meissner, brought in two years ago from Nomura, made worse when Mr Meissner was promoted to global head of investment banking in January.