Fraser became the global head of UBS's investment arm in January 2002, taking over from Peter Wuffli, who moved up to be president of UBS Group. Fraser had been CEO of Asia-Pacific for the funds arm and was marked out for higher things when he was appointed president and COO.
From there, Fraser says the move up to global head wasn't too big a step. "I was deputy CEO when I was in Asia-Pac," he explains. Fraser expects the bigger challenge will be the restructuring of the firm this year.
In February the investment division was reorganized into three platforms sharing a single infrastructure. One unit is for traditional asset management, one for alternative investments and one for real estate. An area of focus will be the real-estate business that UBS is building up. "We're working to fill in the gaps within Europe," says Fraser.
Fraser expects the hedge fund part of the business, led by its O'Connor brand, to fill out even more this year, although he admits that it may have been pushed to grow too rapidly. "Like most hedge funds, part of O'Connor had a tough year last year," he says.