The Global Head of Technology
UBS
The Global Head of Technology
Mike Dargan has not long celebrated his first anniversary as Global Head of Technology at UBS . He joined from Standard Chartered in October 2016 after a whirlwind recruitment process involving around 20 interviews . From headhunter call to contract it took just four weeks .
“ When we want to move quickly , we can move quickly !” Dargan recalls .
But he ’ s used to moving quickly . Dargan earned his stripes at consultancy Oliver Wyman after graduating from Oxford , working with many of the world ’ s top financial institutions . He then took a position at Merrill Lynch and made managing director by the time he turned 30 .
The global financial crisis of 2008 could have stalled him mid-flight , but he helped weather the storm there , playing a significant role in the integration of Merrill with Bank of America , before a judicious move to Standard Chartered in 2009 . Standard Chartered had ridden the storm rather better than most , and Dargan ’ s trajectory remained unbowed . But while he had risen to occupy
positions of huge strategic importance , at no point thus far had Dargan entered the technology arena specifically . He did just that after four years at Standard Chartered , when offered the role of CIO for Financial Markets .
“ I was asked to step in to improve the relationship between the business and technology and operations , and take things in a different way ,” he says .
“ My background , through most of my career , was not technology . It wasn ’ t something I was thinking about doing . But I fundamentally believe the underlying nature of
58 January 2018