Top UBS banker to quit Wall St for advisory role

The top man at Swiss merchant bank UBS's consumer products division is to leave to set up his own investment advisory business, it has emerged.

Blair Effron is a high profile member at the top of UBS’s investment bank, and he played a central role in the merger last year of Gillette and Procter & Gamble.

Both Reuters and the Financial Times report that an internal memo has been sent by UBS confirming Mr Effron’s departure. He is one of a number of top bankers leaving the big players to set up smaller boutique firms of their own, the Financial Times says.

Mr Effron is also thought to want to increase the time he dedicates to politics in the US. He was a leading supporter of the recent presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry.