Executive leaves top job at Swiss bank to become photographer

UBS chief risk officer Christian Bluhm resigned from the Swiss bank to be a full-time professional photographer. The unusual career change, announced on Tuesday, will see Bluhm open a studio and gallery in the historic center of Zurich, within walking distance of the UBS headquarters, exchanging capital proportions for aspect ratios.

A mathematician by training, the 53-year-old German will leave the bank in May to focus on his business and other academic opportunities. He has already launched a website with cityscapes, nature, wedding and beauty photos.

On his website, he says his love of photography blossomed after a friend showed him how to take a clear picture of the constellation Ursa Major in the night sky.

“This experience fascinated me so much that I began an endless journey in professional photography,” Bluhm wrote.

He follows in the footsteps of Matthew Greenburgh, a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch trader and consultant on the RBS-ABN Amro and Lloyds Bank-HBOS acquisitions, who left the bank in 2010 at age 49 to pursue a career in photography.

Christine Novakovic, chief executive of UBS in Europe, spent two years as an art dealer before joining the Swiss bank in 2007.

UBS chief executive Ralph Hamers said he wished Bluhm the best for the future. “I would also like to personally thank Christian for his leadership and dedication over the past six years and for the significant contributions he and his team have made to our sustainable performance through active risk management.”

Bluhm has been chief risk officer at UBS since 2016, during which time the bank avoided getting involved in many of the scandals that hit its Swiss rival Credit Suisse.

UBS, however, suffered an $861 million loss from the collapse of family office Archegos Capital last year, but that was overshadowed by Credit Suisse’s $5.5 billion loss. Both banks had offered brokerage services to the investment firm run by Bill Hwang, a former analyst at Tiger Management.

Hamers has begun to revamp his executive team over the past two years, bringing in a new chief financial officer and new boss to the Americas and giving more power to the head of wealth management, Iqbal Khan.

The new chief risk officer will be Damian Vogel, who currently manages risk in the bank’s wealth management business.

“With his strong track record, deep knowledge of risk and experience across all asset classes, Damian is ideally suited to lead our risk function going forward,” said Hamers.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves