* UBS had replaced Petrachi in February
* Ultra wealthy helped boost UBS Q4 margins
* Rothschild sees strong demand from UHNW
ZURICH, March 31 (Reuters) - Independent financial advisory firm Rothschild has hired Riccardo Petrachi from UBS to lead the business of serving ultra wealthy clients, a key growth area for the Swiss bank. Rothschild Private Banking & Trust said in a statement it had appointed Petrachi to the newly-created position of head of ultra high net worth (UHNW) clients, responsible for those with assets above 25 million Swiss francs ($27.12 million).
Petrachi, who will start his job at Rothschild on Oct. 1, was co-head of UBS's international division for the ultra wealthy for the past two years, and previously deputy head of the bank's UHNW unit for Switzerland.
UBS said Petrachi had been working as senior client advisor since February when it restructured the leadership of its unit for the ultra wealthy, replacing him with Stefano Veri in the new role of head of UHNW global established markets.
UBS clients have pulled nearly 400 billion francs from the world's second-largest wealth manager in recent years after the bank made huge writedowns on toxic assets and was targeted by a U.S. probe into wealthy Americans dodging taxes.
Business stablilised in 2010 but the bank managed to rake in 10 billion francs from the ultra wealthy, which was at least partially responsible for a fourth-quarter improvement in margins and could underpin future profitability, analysts say.
Before working at UBS, Petrachi was head of the equity derivative dales division at Lehman Brothers in Zurich, and had similar positions at Goldman Sachs in Zurich and London.
Thomas Pixner, head of private clients for Rothschild Switzerland, said the bank had strong demand for specialised services for UHNW clients and family offices.
"I am convinced that Riccardo Petrachi, with his wealth of experience and expertise in advising and serving family offices, will succeed in developing this strategically important business for Rothschild," he said. ($1=.9219 Swiss Franc) (Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)