• UBS board increasingly open to potential external CEO candidates - sources
  • Uncertainty over Swiss capital rules could delay CEO transition - sources
  • UBS may consider moving HQ abroad if Swiss regulations deemed excessive - sources

ZURICH, April 14 (Reuters) - Sergio Ermotti could stay as CEO well into the second half of 2027 to steer UBS through a regulatory overhaul and give the board more time to replace him, as an obvious internal successor has yet to emerge, people familiar with the matter said.

UBS UBSG.S not only wants more clarity on what capital demands the Swiss bank will face under new rules, but is also unsure if its potential internal successors to Ermotti are presently right for the job, two sources told Reuters.

UBS's board is increasingly open to having an external successor take on Ermotti's mantle, one of the sources and a third person familiar with the deliberations said.

UBS, which holds its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, declined to comment.

Reuters could not establish if any preferred external candidates have emerged. No decision has been taken on the CEO succession and UBS is unlikely to rush it, the sources added.

Ermotti, who was also UBS CEO from 2011 to 2020, has repeatedly expressed his preference for an internal successor and last month said he would remain in charge until at least April 2027, while leaving open the possibility of staying on longer.

If he does so, it gives UBS more time to develop its internal candidates or to find an external successor to a CEO who has led the bank for far longer than anyone else since the modern financial group took shape after a 1998 merger.