Paul Donovan

While engaged in a discussion in June of 2019 concerning Chinese consumer prices, Donovan commented that the swine influenza — which was causing the cost of pork to rise — mattered to "Chinese pigs and those who ate them". Donovan later apologized for his remarks before taking a leave of absence from UBS, saying "I made a mistake and I unwittingly used hugely culturally insensitive language." Patrick Winters and Benjamin Robertson of Bloomberg reported that "local rivals of UBS, which have been trying to take bigger piece of a business dominated by the established Western wealth managers, were quick to condemn Donovan's comments."

In 2015 Donovan published "The Truth About Inflation" arguing that inflation was a poorly understood concept in financial markets. In particular he focused on the issue of inflation inequality - the idea that aggregate inflation indices do not accurately portray the cost of living for certain groups in society. In particular, as income inequality increases, Donovan contends that a plutocratic statistic like consumer price inflation will increasingly misrepresent the cost of living for lower income groups in society. Donovan has criticised the idea of helicopter money arguing that it reduces policy inflexibility, has dire consequences if not controlled, and that raising price inflation expectations may not be desirable if wage inflation expectations remain weak.

In 2006 Donovan authored a detailed analysis of the London 2012 Olympic games, in his role as economic adviser to the East London Business Alliance (ELBA). In this research, Donovan argued that the macro economic benefits of the games could amount to between £5.9bn and £7.8bn of long term gains for the London Boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

In 2003 Donovan co-founded the Peter Culverhouse Memorial Trust, a charity funding long term cancer care and research into low grade glioma. He sits on the investment committee of St Anne's College, Oxford and has worked with the Bridge Academy school in Hackney. Donovan describes himself as a keen skier and an amateur heavyweight boxer.

Donovan studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating in 1993. He also holds an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of London. Donovan is an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, and a member of the Vice Chancellor's Circle of Oxford University.

In 1992 Donovan joined UBS Phillips and Drew, as the investment banking arm of UBS was then known, as an intern in the Fixed Income economics department. In 1995 he moved to be global economist. His appointment as Global Chief Economist of UBS Wealth Management was announced in June 2016. He has been a Managing Director of UBS since 2004 and sits as a member of the Wealth Management Global Investment Committee.