(Bloomberg) — Ralph Hamers, the former chief executive officer of UBS Group AG, has joined a wealth firm founded by onetime Google staffers, his first public appointment since exiting the Swiss banking giant last year.
Hamers, 58, is an external senior adviser at Arta Finance, a digital-wealth platform leveraging artificial intelligence in an attempt to bring family office-style investing — long known for catering to the world’s billionaires — to the masses, according to a statement Thursday from the company.
He also acquired a stake in the Silicon Valley- and Singapore-based firm, joining more than 100 technology and finance professionals including Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google parent Alphabet Inc., as early-stage investors, Arta said in the statement, which didn’t disclose financial terms.
Hamers was until last year one of the world’s top finance executives, serving as group CEO at UBS for about two years. He was replaced in April 2023 by Sergio Ermotti, who was brought back to lead the 162-year-old bank for its integration with local rival Credit Suisse. Hamers previously held a similar role at ING Groep NV, where he was credited with transforming the Dutch lender from financial crisis victim into digital banking pioneer.
“My background is really in the crossroads of where tech meets finance,” Hamers said in a Zoom interview. “What I see here is my career coming together in helping these guys.”
Arta came out of stealth mode in 2022 with the aim of exploiting the gap between the bevy of brokerages offering commission-free trading on retail investing apps and the tony private-banking offerings typically requiring customers to have more than $10 million in assets.
Led by CEO Caesar Sengupta, a former Google vice president, the firm initially focused on so-called accredited investors in the US, which the Securities and Exchange Commission defines as individuals with a net worth of at least $1 million or an annual salary of at least $200,000.
It’s now offering its services for accredited investors in the Asia wealth hub of Singapore, according to the statement, as well as developing additional AI-based products for its platform, where users can access private equity, venture capital and real estate opportunities.
Arta has ambitions to reach investors in other markets including in Sengupta’s native India, where the number of ultra-rich individuals is surging amid a wealth boom led by the likes of industrialist Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
“India will be huge,” Sengupta, who founded Arta with seven others from Google, said in an interview, declining to disclose the firm’s assets under management or valuation.
Hamers was recently among candidates being considered for the role of Schroders Plc’s CEO before the UK asset-management firm appointed Richard Oldfield to the position last month.
He’s also due to find out later this year whether prosecutors will charge him in relation to a 2018 settlement from ING over the Amsterdam-based lender’s failure to follow rules against money laundering during his tenure.
Hamers is involved in some other financial technology projects, which he declined to discuss in the interview, and stressed he’s in no hurry to return to any executive role.
“I’ve basically decided to do what I really like to do, then see what comes around,” he said.