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The bank's powerful group executive board in Zurich recently presented Mr. Wolf with an edict directing him to report all his media inquiries to the firm's press office. Since then, most of the requests to speak to Mr. Wolf have been rejected, according to people briefed on the situation, resulting in a much dimmer limelight for Mr. Wolf.
The move to muzzle Mr. Wolf is unlikely on its own to hinder his ability to raise money, even if he may have to do it more quietly than before. Mr. Obama is raising far less on Wall Street than he did in 2008, and Mitt Romney is enlisting a number of big donors there.
Yet the contretemps within UBS may be more about office politics than national politics. After a series of setbacks, including a $2 billion loss blamed on a rogue trader in London, the bank is struggling to turn itself around.
Several executives, most notably Robert McCann, have been jockeying for a bigger role in running the bank. Mr. McCann was elevated recently, while Mr. Wolf lost some responsibilities.
Mr. McCann, 54, who is chief executive of UBS in the Americas, and Mr. Wolf, who is chairman of the Americas, do not get along, according to people inside the bank.
Largely through his relationship with the president, Mr. Wolf has become the public face of UBS in the United States, even though Mr. McCann, a former Merrill Lynch executive, now outranks him.
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