UBS has appointed Sylvia Coutinho as chief executive of UBS Group Brazil, effective when current CEO Lywal Salles retires on June 24.

Coutinho was previously head of retail banking and wealth management for Latin America and asset management for the Americas at HSBC. She has also worked in a number of other senior Americas-based roles at that firm - primarily in wealth management, private banking and asset management.

In her new role - which UBS said makes her the first woman to serve as CEO of a Brazilian business for an international bank - Coutinho will oversee the delivery of resources to the firm’s private, corporate and institutional clients. This includes UBS Brasil Corretora, which before the Swiss firm bought it in February of this year was called Link Investimentos - one of Brazil’s largest brokerage firms (view article here).

UBS has, in recent months, demonstrated its commitment to Brazil in a number of ways. The acquisition of Link Investimentos, for example, came after the firm launched new headquarters for UBS Brasil in São Paulo's financial district.

And the firm is not alone in its plan to strengthen its foothold in the country (which, according to WealthInsight, has the highest number of high net worth individuals in Latin America). Also in February, for example, JP Morgan named Jose Berenguer as senior country officer for Brazil.

“We are confident she is the leader to help us in the next stage of building a strong Brazil franchise, particularly as the market’s solid, growing economy and expanding wealth base mark it as a strong opportunity for all of UBS’s business areas,” said Robert McCann, UBS Group Americas CEO.  

“We thank Lywal for his leadership over the past two and a half years, helping UBS navigate a complex, dynamic economic environment in the country, especially through the successful acquisition of Link,” McCann added.