Orcel was appointed executive chairman of global banking and markets at BAML in September 2009, a year after Merrill Lynch was taken over by Bank of America following the credit crunch.

"It's a great hire. He is a relationship man, not a manager and (UBS's chief executive Sergio) Ermotti knows him well", said a top UBS banker in London.

"This would be well-received internally, he is a big name".

Orcel specializes in financial services and has advised on some of Europe's largest deals including the break-up of Dutch lender ABN Amro. More recently, he helped Italian bank Unicredit raise 7.5 billion euro ($9.89 billion) in fresh equity.

BAML and UBS declined to comment.

Orcel was not available for immediate comment. ($1= 0.7582 euros)

(Editing by Steve Slater and Greg Mahlich)

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