I really thought it was going to be Merrill Lynch that would be the next firm to have problems, given the disaster known as Bank of America, but I might have been wrong.
Then again, no one could really expect me to know, or even guess, that UBS would allow a trader to lose 2 BILLION dollars. Now, it is UBS that is in the news, and the target of rumors and speculation regarding how long it can hold on.
In just the last few days:
Trader scandal may hamstring UBS' recruiting - apparently the wealth management business is getting hurt by the losses. Quite frankly, there is a serious disconnect here, if wealthy individuals are staying away from UBS because a trader in Europe lost 2 BILLION dollars, but apparently that is happening.
UBS 'business model is gone' — and rich clients could follow - according to this analysis, Ermotti will have" to rebuild investor confidence shaken by the failure of the bank's risk controls. He will have to shrink an investment bank to conserve capital as well as bolster the bank's wealth management operations, which generate about 41 percent of the bank's revenue. There, he will have to prevent wealthy clients from pulling funds from the country's largest wealth manager."
New UBS boss: U.S. brokerage not for sale -not an unexpected rumor, but interesting that there was a denial.
UBS Chief Resigns Over Rogue Trader Affair - this might have been overkill, but bravo! for taking responsibility for mistakes made during your watch.
