UBS veteran Costa moves to Lazard

Lazard has poached the veteran UBS banker Ken Costa to be chairman of Lazard International, giving him the responsibility of leading the company's UK investment banking business alongside William Rucker.

Mr Costa is to join the business in October, calling time on his 30-year career with UBS where he had been vice chairman of the Swiss company's investment bank.

Mr Costa, said to have left on good terms, worked on a wide number of clients in the mergers and acquisitions arena, and is a significant hire for Lazard.

His move follows a turbulent time for the once bomb-proof UBS, which has lost a number of highly rated bankers and had to shut its fixed income hedge fund after running up losses in the US mortgage securities market.

The hiring comes after Lazard set up a unified management structure for its European operations in an attempt to end the long running rivalry between the Paris and London offices.

Recent high-profile deals involving Mr Costa include advising the Barclay brothers on their purchase of The Daily Telegraph and the emerging markets bank Standard Chartered on its acquisition of Korea First Bank.