Swiss bank UBS has admitted it made mistakes during the financial crisis, particularly in the investment banking area.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
In a report released on Thursday, UBS said it would not take legal action against its previous management despite the shortcomings.
“What happened shouldn’t have been allowed to happen, and with our decision to refrain from legal proceedings, we don’t want to gloss over the mistakes made by UBS or absolve those involved of their corporate responsibility,” said board chairman Kaspar Villiger.
In its review of the events during the financial market crisis, UBS said its investment banking growth strategy wasn’t properly planned, and this was a “significant” contributor to its losses.
“The incentives in place at that time to generate revenues without taking appropriate consideration of the risks underpinned this strategy and facilitated losses,” according to UBS.
Switzerland’s biggest bank also conceded its risk control was based too heavily on statistical models, and the ratings of external agencies were rarely questioned.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Swiss banking regulation leads the field
This content was published on
The G20 meeting of the world’s most influential nations has yet to agree on the Basel III proposals, let alone impose more stringent rules to protect economies from collapsing banks. Individual countries are also plotting their own regulatory course. In the midst of the uncertainty, Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse say they can meet…
This content was published on
The government’s “too big to fail” commission said on Monday that the move would limit the risk that a bank failure would drag down the economy. The commission was set up in the wake of the financial crisis and the government bail-out of the troubled bank UBS in 2008. Made up of top regulators, bank…
This content was published on
The bank hopes to take advantage of a recent upturn in its fortunes with a public relations offensive. But the success or failure of this slick presentation campaign depends on what lies beneath its surface. UBS has suffered a spectacular fall from grace in the past two years after writing off more than $50 billion…
This content was published on
Over the past few years, UBS has garnered a lot of negative press. Extraordinary general assemblies and public protests have been occuring with increasing frequency.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.