UBS removed its head of risk Maureen Miskovic on Thursday after less than a year in the job and 11 weeks after a $2 billion trading scandal rocked the Swiss bank. Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti put Philip Lofts, the man whose job Miskovic took, back in his former role with immediate effect in a sign the new boss is beginning to make his mark on the crisis-torn institution.
Ermotti also gave new responsibilities to two of his rivals for the top job: Ulrich Koerner and Bob McCann. The British-born Lofts, who kept a low profile in 11 months as chief executive of the UBS Americas business, held the risk position from 2008 until 2010. His reappointment and Miskovic's departure are both effective immediately, UBS said in a statement. UBS shares were down 1.6 percent at 11.00 francs by 1610 GMT, underperforming a 0.75 percent weaker European banking sector.
A UBS spokesman said Miskovic's departure was not related to losses allegedly racked up by London-based trader Kweku Adoboli. But the scandal, which broke on September 15, had raised questions over her future as the bank reviewed its control procedures and admitted risk systems had detected unauthorised activity but failed to respond.
The 54-year-old Miskovic was recruited by Gruebel and was only in the risk role at UBS since January. Her departure is mainly due to lack of chemistry with new CEO Ermotti, and not directly linked to the rogue trading incident, a person close to Miskovic told Reuters on Thursday. UBS declined to comment on the relationship between Ermotti and Miskovic. She was head of risk at US-based financial services group State Street from 2008 to 2010. From 1996-2002, she was chief risk officer at Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank that collapsed in 2008. Before that she worked at Morgan Stanley.