Four UBS directors to leave as bank steps up risk oversight

Four directors of UBS will step down in October as the bank attempts to overcome the stigma of its massive writedowns over the past 12 months.

Directors Stephan Haeringer, Rolf Meyer, Peter Spuhler and Lawrence Weinbach will resign before the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for October 2, at which their successors - still unnamed - will be elected.

The bank also announced that the once-powerful chairman's office has been abolished, with newly formed risk and strategy committees taking on its role alongside two existing bodies, the governance and nominating committee and the human resources and compensation committee. Chief executive Marcel Rohner and the bank's executive committee will now be responsible to the board for bank operations, a change from earlier, when the chairman's office was also involved in running UBS.

"Bringing UBS back to its leading position was the number one priority I committed to at the annual general meeting of April 23, 2008," said chairman Peter Kurer. "We have made a big step forward with the clear separation of the duties between the board and executive management and the abolition of the chairman’s office."

UBS has reported over $30 billion in writedowns linked to US real estate and structured credit, triggering the resignation of chairman Marcel Ospel in April this year.

See also: UBS appoints Philip Lofts as new group risk COO  
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