UBS board 'regrets but accepts' CEO's resignation
Swiss bank UBS says its chief executive has resigned over a £1.5bn rogue trading loss.
The bank says its Europe chief Sergio Ermotti will take over as interim chief executive until Oswald Gruebel’s replacement is appointed.
UBS board president Kaspar Villiger said in a statement today that Oswald Gruebel had considered it his duty to take responsibility for the massive loss caused by alleged unauthorised trading at its London-based investment banking unit.
Kaspar Villiger said the board regretted Gruebel's decision to resign but had decided to accept it.
“Oswald Gruebel feels that it is his duty to assume responsibility for the recent unauthorised trading incident,” Villiger was quoted as saying in the statement. “It is testimony to his uncompromising principles and integrity.”
London-based UBS trader Kweku Adoboli was arrested last week and charged with fraud and false accounting for the loss.
Villiger said Gruebel, who was brought in more than two years ago to help revive the fortunes of the Zurich-based bank, had achieved “an impressive turnaround and strengthened UBS fundamentally”.
“He steps down having helped make UBS one of the world’s best capitalised banks,” Villiger added.
The announcement also noted that the board, which met in Singapore this week, would seek to put in place measures to prevent a similar rogue trading loss from recurring.
