PS: UBS

A week ago, I quoted FT associate editor John Gapper, asking whether it was a rogue trader or a rogue bank that was behind UBS' "rogue trading" loss of $2.3 billion.

It looks more and more like the latter. Columnist James B. Stewart, writing in today's New York Times, reviews the sadly-long history of, um, questionable behavior at UBS and notes,

The problem the [UBS] board faces is whether the UBS culture ... was one of personal greed. UBS should ruthlessly and visibly weed out not just executives with dubious ethical and legal standards, but anyone who puts their personal interests ahead of clients -- which, when you think about it, should be the litmus test for anyone who claims to be a professional.

The current chairman, Oswald Grunwald, was brought out of retirement (from Credit Suisse) specifically to bring a new ethics focus; it is now rumored that the trading loss will cost him his job -- just as substantive legal and ethical lapses brought an end to the prior chief executives (Peter Wuffli, in 2007, and Marcel Rohner, in 2009).

No one has suggested that the current chief was in any way involved in the "rogue trades" -- but then, it's not even clear that the trader involved, Kweku Adoboli, profited directly from his trades (the "profit", for Mr. Adoboli, would be that a dramatic success would have propelled his career upwards).