Investors assess new UBS CEO

ZURICH: UBS investors welcomed the Swiss bank's choice of caretaker chief executive, Sergio Ermotti, after Oswald Gruebel resigned in the wake of a US$2.3bil rogue trading scandal and cleared the way for a major overhaul of the investment bank.

Shares in UBS climbed steadily as fund managers and analysts digested news that the job of clearing up after the crisis had been handed to Ermotti, who joined UBS in April after being passed over for the top job at Italian bank UniCredit.

“Ermotti is not the most risk averse he used to make some big trades (at Merrill Lynch). But he does know how to manage risk,” said a Geneva-based investment adviser who has worked with Ermotti in the past. “He has the experience and he's motivated.”

Shares in UBS, which staged a relief rally late last week on hopes the UBS board might decide on a big restructuring, were up 4.3% at 10.6 francs by 0927 GMT yesterday, recovering from initial losses and tracking the European sector banking index which also rose 4.3%.

“Although the new CEO will no doubt take some time to develop a restructuring plan, we believe that hopes of a much more substantial downsizing of the investment bank, freeing up significant capital, will help support the shares in the short term,” said Nomura analyst Jon Peace.

Gruebel, 67, resigned on Saturday, saying he was taking the blame for the scandal. But there was speculation he had clashed with the UBS board on strategy.(Reuters)

Malaysia Gold Price as at 22nd September 2011

Gold Price Malaysia (Malaysian Ringgits)

Conversion : 1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams 

Malaysian Ringgits per Kilo

Malaysian Ringgits per Gram

 

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