ROME (BLOOMBERG) - Sergio Ermotti, the outgoing chief executive officer of UBS Group, has been picked to take over as chairman of reinsurer Swiss Re in 2021.

Swiss Re will nominate the 59-year-old for election as a non-executive member of the board in April, with Ermotti set to succeed Walter B Kielholz as chairman next year, the reinsurer said in a statement on Tuesday (March 3).

In a surprise announcement, UBS last month said Ermotti would be replaced by ING Groep CEO Ralph Hamers, effective in November. The head of UBS since 2011 is ending his term as the bank prepares to challenge a multi-billion-euro French fine as well as revamp its key wealth management business.

"His appointment will ensure a smooth leadership transition when I retire after the AGM in 2021, and I look forward to working closely with him until then," Kielholz said in the statement.

The Swiss Re chairman has held the role since 2009 and first became a member of the board in 1998, according to the company's website. The reinsurer reported mixed results last month, with profit rising but missing analyst estimates as the company took hits from major claims including typhoons in Japan and wildfires in Australia.

At UBS, Ermotti had been seen as a possible candidate to take over from chairman Axel Weber when he retires. Commenting last month on Hamers's appointment, Ermotti said he hadn't "finalized" his role at the bank and planned to say whether he sought the chairman position "when appropriate."

Ermotti took an 11 per cent pay cut in his final year on the job as UBS reduced bonuses across the Swiss bank after lowering its financial targets.

Like many of its European peers, UBS is struggling in the face of negative interest rates, investor nerves and trade tensions. As global wealth creation slows, the bank changed tack by taking away a target on growing its wealth assets under management to providing more fee-generating services to each client.