UBS has appointed Daniele Magazzeni as chief AI officer, effective 1 January 2026.

In his new role, Magazzeni will be responsible for leading the bank’s AI strategy, with a particular focus on reorganising business capabilities to improve customer experience and increase employee productivity.

Magazzeni will also head up the chief artificial intelligence office, UBS’ arm responsible for ensuring the effective large-scale implementation of AI-based tools and processes, maintaining consistent standards and building a solid technological foundation across the organisation.

He will be based in London and report to Mike Dargan, group chief operations and technology officer.

Commenting on Magazzeni's appointment, Dargan said that his role will be crucial to further optimising the use of generative and agentic AI capabilities to transform the bank’s end-to-end operations and deliver cutting-edge solutions to clients.

“I am delighted to welcome Daniele with his experience in embedding AI into business processes, driving measurable efficiency improvements and delivering commercial benefits,” he added.

Earlier this year, UBS launched several large-scale transformational AI initiatives, called Big Rocks, which are designed to have a broad impact across the firm and increase the efficiency of processes and systems.

UBS currently has over 300 live use cases, with AI-powered tools being rolled out to all employees, including M365 Copilot and UBS’ in-house AI Assistant Red.

Magazzeni joins the bank from JP Morgan, where he has worked for more than five years.

Starting as AI research managing director, he was appointed global head of explainable AI center of excellence in 2021.

He was eventually promoted to chief analytics officer for both the EMEA region and the commercial and investment bank in 2024, leading the firm’s global analytics programme across markets, banking services, payments and securities services.

His responsibilities included enhancing AI capabilities, promoting a culture of innovation and ensuring robust AI governance.

Prior to that, he was associate professor of AI at King’s College London for more than 12 years.

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