44 Facts About Andrea Orcel

Andrea Orcel was the president of UBS Investment Bank from November 2014 to September 2018.

Andrea Orcel was poised to take on the role of Chief Executive of Banco Santander from September 2018 to January 2019; however, the job offer was withdrawn which resulted in him taking legal action against Santander.

Andrea Orcel is a controversial figure in European business and international banking.

Andrea Orcel has been called one of the most successful investment bankers of his generation.

Andrea Orcel has been routinely criticized for his abrasive management style, overworking subordinates, and being hyper-competitive.

Andrea Orcel was born on May 14,1963, in Rome, Italy.

Andrea Orcel's father ran a small leasing company and his mother worked for the United Nations.

Andrea Orcel attended the Lycee francais Chateaubriand in Rome for secondary school, at his mother's request, so he could learn French in addition to his native Italian.

Andrea Orcel attended the University of Rome, Sapienza, majoring in economics and commerce.

Andrea Orcel has stated that a vacation to the United States when he was 18 convinced him to go into banking.

Andrea Orcel went on to attend the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France.

Andrea Orcel orchestrated the $25 billion merger of Italian banking groups, Credito Italiano and Unicredito to form banking conglomerate UniCredit in 1998.

Andrea Orcel called the bank and offered to explore the possibility of a merger with a comparable company and brought them to Merrill Lynch a week later.

Andrea Orcel was head of the Global FIG team from 2003 to 2007, succeeding Joseph Willit.

In 2004, Andrea 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.

Andrea Orcel was tapped by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group in 2007 to advise on a $55 billion acquisition of ABN Amro.

In 2008, in the middle of the financial crisis, it was reported that Andrea Orcel brought in $550 million in advisory fees for the bank, earning him 2007 compensation of $38 million.

Andrea Orcel's bonus sparked an investigation into executive compensation by the New York Attorney General; no charges were brought forward against Orcel or Merrill Lynch.

In 2009, Andrea Orcel was asked to serve as the executive chairman of the investment bank, eventually being appointed chief executive of European Card Services.

Andrea Orcel led a team to execute a $8.5 billion rights offering for UniCredit, at the height of the Eurozone crisis in January 2012.

In January 2013, following the Libor scandal, Andrea Orcel was called before the British Parliament's banking standards commission to explain the company's role in the scandal.

In March 2013, Andrea Orcel rejoined his brother Riccardo to negotiate an investment into VTB from a Qatari sovereign wealth fund.

From early 2013 to late 2014 Andrea Orcel initiated a corporate restructuring of the investment bank, to "[stop] trying to be the biggest investment bank and [focus] on being the best".

Andrea Orcel made this offer to counter a bailout by the Italian government but was jointly rejected by the Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi and MPS.

Andrea Orcel fired thousands of employees in order to boost profitability, reducing the company's wage requirements by $3 billion.

Andrea Orcel personally invited her to his London office to clarify that the director had been suspended and subsequently resigned.

The total amount Santander had to pay to hire Andrea Orcel increased from $21.3 million to more than $50.7 million.

Andrea Orcel was released from his contract and regained his UBS deferred stock options.

In March 2022, Andrea Orcel received criticism over his pay packet of $2.7 million.

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

Andrea Orcel was quoted as respecting a banker's choice to "cancel their holidays themselves so they can stick around to help with a deal", but doesn't demand it of them.

Andrea Orcel rebuffed the calls for change and declined to amend the working hours of UBS junior bankers.

Andrea Orcel has repeatedly stated that, due to the competitive nature of banking, one in four mergers and acquisition bankers do not make it past entry-level positions.

Andrea Orcel similarly uses European football to describe such strategies, referring to UBS as the "Croatia of investment banking" following the 2018 FIFA World Cup final.

On March 31,2017, Andrea 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.

Shortly after announcing the new directive, Andrea Orcel initiated a client meeting monitoring system that culminated in further departures.

An unnamed senior executive at the investment bank stated: "[Andrea Orcel] is the best banker I've ever worked with and the worst manager I've ever seen" after the directive hit international presses.

On October 15,2018, Andrea Orcel was at the center of a Financial News London editorial investigation into his management style.

The report concluded that Andrea Orcel had a "pattern of aggressive behavior towards other executives".

Select accounts asserted that Andrea Orcel pursued personal vendettas against detractors, often wishing to "make examples of out [his colleagues]".

Andrea Orcel has been called the "Ronaldo of investment banking" and a "deal junkie" by the international press and select British government officials.

Andrea Orcel continues to be a prominent figure in global finance, focusing on driving growth and innovation both within UniCredit and beyond.

Andrea Orcel is married to Clara Batalim-Orcel, a Portuguese interior designer.

Andrea Orcel was appointed deputy chief executive of VTB Bank in July 2013 and has occasionally worked with Andrea on mutual deals.