UBS chief exec Oswald Gruebel resigns over “rogue trader” loss

UBS AG's chief executive, Oswald Gruebel, has resigned in the fallout from the Swiss bank's discovery of a $2.3 billion loss due to alleged rogue trading.

Gruebel, 67, had been CEO of Switzerland's largest bank since February 2009, and resigned from his post after a meeting of the bank's board of directors, Bloomberg reports. Sergio Ermotti, the bank's CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will replace Gruebel on an interim basis.

“Oswald Gruebel feels that it is his duty to assume responsibility for the recent unauthorized trading incident,” UBS chairman Kaspar Villiger said in a statement released by the bank Saturday, Bloomberg reports. “During his tenure, he achieved an impressive turnaround and strengthened UBS fundamentally.”

Banking regulators in Switzerland and the UK are continuing to investigate the unauthorized trading.

London-based trader Kweku Adoboli, 31, has been charged with fraud and false accounting. He has been remanded in custody until October 20, the BBC says.

Adoboli, the son a retired United Nations employee, worked as a director of exchange traded funds for Zurich-based UBS and lived a luxury lifestyle in London.

His lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, said Adoboli was "sorry beyond words for what had happened," the BBC reports.

More from GlobalPost: UBS trader charged with fraud in $2 billion bank loss