6.10.2011
By Simon Miller
The two global heads of equities have resigned from UBS as a result of the rogue trader scandal.
Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara's resignations were taken with immediate effect as they assumed responsibility for the failure to identify the rogue tradings that Kweku Adaboli carried out which resulted in UBS losing £1.5bn.
“Their resignations come as they assume overall responsibility for the effective management of the equities business,” the bank said in a statement yesterday.
In addition, the bank admitted that there were failures in its risk management procedures.
In a memo to staff, interim CEO Sergio Ermotti said that while the bank’s internal systems had detected “unauthorized or unexplained” activity, it wasn’t “sufficiently” probed and controls weren’t enforced.
“UBS will not tolerate any misconduct that damages the bank’s reputation,” Ermotti, said in the memo obtained by Bloomberg.
"The bank will take disciplinary action against other individuals in equities and across other divisions," he added.
A number of individuals in the equities business have also been suspended pending further disciplinary action according to the UBS statement and Don Francese will become interim chief operating officer for the equities division.
Former Bank of America Merrill Lynch global equities head Mike Stewart has been apointed sole global head of equities at UBS.
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