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- Newslink Trends-The Global Strategic Perspective
- Juniper Research says digital wallet users to exceed 4.4 billion by 2025, as mobile drives digital payments’ revolution
- Criminals exploit COVID-19 pandemic with rise in scams targeting victims online
- Equifax says Open Banking proving pivotal to pandemic lending
- Consumer confidence in banks, credit card providers and investments remain stable as demand supercharges digital finance says Toluna research
- Mintos says Europeans are starting to embrace investing
- US banks see IT modernisation as a way to improve customer experience
- Risk mitigation in global trade depends on digitisation-Andrew Raymond, CEO, Bolero International comments
- Juniper Research new study says the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022, from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020
- CMA issues fifth publication over 3 years of the service quality league table of personal and business current account providers
- Barclays says scammers take advantage of COVID-19, cashing in on nations’ uncertainty
- S&P Global report says financial market infrastructure sector's earnings likely to cool off In second half
- Global banking market capitalisation slumps by over 30% amid pandemic says Buyshares research
- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
27th September 2011
Sergio Ermotti appointed interim UBS CEO
The UBS board accepted the resignation of Oswald Grübel as Group CEO on Saturday, understood to be less than 24 hours after a fateful vote of confidence. The board appointed Sergio Ermotti as interim Group CEO. The official announcement stated, "The Board regrets Oswald Grübel's decision. Oswald Grübel feels that it is his duty to assume responsibility for the recent unauthorized trading incident".
Ermotti was with the UniCredit group for many years. He held various positions at Bank Austria before moving to HypoVereinsbank as Chairman of the supervisory board, deputy CEO of UniCredit and group head of Corporate and Investment Banking. He left to join UBS after failing to get the top job following the dismissal of Profumo. Since joining UBS last December he has been Chairman and CEO of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has been tipped since joining for the CEO role.
Some media report that the parting with Grübel was because of his demand that UBS remain a universal bank with a strong investment banking division remaining whilst the board now want a significant and rapid reduction. Chairman Kaspar Villiger insisted the board was committed to the retention of a strong investment banking activity though qualifying this by adding, "in the future, the investment bank will be less complex, carry less risk and use less capital to produce reliable returns and contribute more optimally to UBS's overall objectives."
Discussed less is the fact that shortly after the rogue trading event was discovered Grübel said that 'the buck stops here' in terms of responsibility. When a statement like that is made it is hard to see any other eventual outcome than resignation. The Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC, is the largest shareholder in UBS and issued a statement following discussion with UBS top management expressing disappointment at the failures and urging UBS to take firm action. The move is uncharacteristic of GIC for an organisation that normally stays in the shadows and rarely intervenes.
The Swiss authorities could close the investment banking down. Another, and perhaps more likely option would be to introduce ring-fencing.
It is argued that no system can guarantee that a trusted and motivated individual can never commit fraud. Although true, banks have strongly resisted measures in the US and Europe that if in place may have prevented the Société Générale and this most recent UBS fraud. Part of the Dodd-Frank act and European plans relates to control and the automatic filing in real time or near real time of Over The Counter security trades such as Exchange Traded Funds, including hedges made at the same time. Currently confirmations occur significantly after the event and are done by fax. This allows a trader to alter or invent offsetting hedges as happened in the recent rogue events.