26.9.2011
By Simon Miller
UBS's chief executive Oswald Gruebel resigned at the weekend as a result of the £1.5bn loss to its investment arm.
Gruebel said that ultimately it was best for Swiss bank to have a change of leadership at the top in a letter to staff on Saturday.
In his letter, Gruebel said: "That it was possible for one of our traders in London to inflict a multi-billion loss on our bank through unauthorized trading shocked me, as it did everyone else, deeply."
He added: "This incident has worldwide repercussions, including political ones. I did not take the step of resigning lightly. I am convinced that it is in the best interests of UBS to approach the future with a new leader at the top."
Sergio Ermotti has taken over as interim chief executive and UBS chairman Kaspar Villiger has asked him to quicken the scaling back of the investment arm so that details can be revealed at the bank's investor day on 17 November.
Ermotti joined UBS in April this year as head of EMEA from Unicredit and had been touted as Gruebel's successor.
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