UBS Chief Resigns After Trader's $2.3B Loss

UBS chief executive Oswald Gruebel has resigned over a $2.3 billion rogue trading loss. The bank said Gruebel's decision was an attempt to allow UBS to start afresh following the latest major scandal to hit Switzerland's biggest bank. Bank President Kaspar Villiger said the board tried to convince Gruebel to stay until the bank's annual shareholder meeting next year, but Gruebel wanted to send a strong signal about the trading loss immediately.

"He thinks that this act could maybe create a new basis for UBS to continue," said Villiger. London-based UBS trader Kweku Adoboli was arrested last week and charged with fraud and false accounting for the $2.3 billion loss. A judge ordered him Thursday to be held in jail until a hearing next month. 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." (More UBS stories.)