At UBS, Wuffli out, Rohner in

Goodbye Peter Wuffli, Hello Marcel Rohner.

Late yesterday came word from UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) that Peter Wuffli would leave the bank following several consecutive quarters of disappointing results. The company said that instead of looking outside for a replacement, Deputy CEO Marcel Rohner would step into Wuffli's role immediately and try to help the bank revive its fortunes. The company's stock has underperformed for a number of months following setbacks that include subprime mortgage woes and lagging revenue in its fixed-income unit.

Although somewhat sudden, Wuffli's departure actually looks like it will be a good thing for UBS. Let's be honest here, Wuffli had his share of hardships as CEO. For one thing, in May, UBS closed the Dillon Read Capital Management hedge fund arm because of losses attributed to the U.S. subprime mortgage market. UBS lost around $124M with Dillon Read and was partially responsible for the company's Q1 profit fall of 7%.

In the other corner is Rohner, who has been a member of the group executive board since 2002 and Deputy CEO since January. His resume also includes overseeing the company's global wealth management unit since 2005, which has been a huge money maker; Rohner's division accounted for nearly 70% of pretax profit from financial businesses last year. In an effort to smooth his transition to CEO, the bank asked Chairman Marcel Ospel to remain on board for at least one more three-year term.

Wuffli's departure, which management claims wasn't due to "any disagreement over strategy," has caused concern over the company's Q2 earnings, which the company will report in August. Eager to ease concerns, the company said a new CEO doesn't necessarily mean Q2 earnings will be disappointing. Analysts, however, believe that a strategic review of certain operations could be next; since Rohner is from the wealth-management side of the business. Derek de Vries, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, believes that sector will be unaffected by any review. He added that the investment banking side would be a likely choice for review.

While Wuffli previously dismissed talk that the bank could be broken up, with new management in place, and potential scrutiny of its investment banking strategy on the way, that may mean changes. Analysts remain confident for the moment that a break up would be a "far-fetched scenario."