of ubs ceo resigns

UBS CEO Resigns

Rogue trader Kweku Adoboli won't be the only person to lose his job over the scandal. UBS chief executive Osawld Gruebel has resigned over the $2.3 billion loss. UBS Europe chief Sergio Ermotti will take over as interim chief executive until a replacement is found. The Swiss bank's president, Kaspar Villiger, said the board regretted Gruebel's decision but will accept it. "Oswald Gruebel feels that it is his duty to assume responsibility for the recent unauthorized trading incident," Villiger said in a statement. "He steps down having helped make UBS one of the world's best capitalized banks.” The bank also says it is putting measures in place to prevent another rogue trading loss from happening.

Swiss media speculation had been mounting that Gruebel would be ousted at the long-scheduled UBS board meeting held in Singapore in the run-up to Sunday's Grand Prix -- the bank is a major sponsor of Formula One racing.

Reports said Gruebel was expected to seek a vote of confidence during the meeting, with the bank under pressure from shareholders and some Swiss politicians over the rogue-trading scandal.

But Villiger, shortly after the statement was released, told journalists the UBS board did not want Gruebel to step down immediately, and would have preferred he stayed on until a key shareholders' meeting, set for the spring of next year.

But for Grubel, staying on until next year would not have sent a strong enough signal regarding his responsibility for the scandal, and so he chose to resign now, Villiger explained by phone from Singapore.