UBS chief executive Oswald Grübel resigned after the board refused to back his plans to overhaul the bank’s strategy and corporate governance, two people involved in the process said
UBS chief executive Oswald Grübel resigned after the board refused to back his plans to overhaul the bank’s strategy and corporate governance, two people involved in the process said.
Mr Grübel announced his resignation on Saturday, 10 days after discovering that a trading scandal had cost the Swiss bank as much as $2.3bn, stressing it was a personal decision and that he was personally accountable for the loss. “I am convinced that it is in the best interests of UBS to approach the future with a new leader at the top,” he wrote in a note to staff.
Mr Grübel had secured unanimous support from his board to remain as chief executive at a meeting on Friday.
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But according to two senior executives, the board was not prepared to grant two key demands – that the bank should remain as some form of universal bank, remodelled to his design and still comprising wealth management, asset management and investment banking under one roof; and that the board should be overhauled, with the appointment of Axel Weber, the former Bundesbank president, who is due to take over as chairman in April 2013, accelerated by a year.
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