Swiss banking giant UBS today announced the resignation of CEO Oswald Grubel after a marathon meeting of its board in Singapore. There was speculation all week that the scandal could ultimately cost Gruebel his job but the suddenness of his departure is a bit of a surprise. His exit marks the fourth CEO firing in […]
Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) could have spared itself (and its shareholders) a lot of pain if it had better handled the news CEO Richard Handler’s stock sale. The news, reported as a result of a regulatory filing, sent shares of the investment bank tumbling more than 11% on Thursday. They recovered somewhat today, but investors […]
Today’s press coverage of the continuing drama at UBS suggests the saga is playing out in predictable fashion, as rivals seek to poach UBS deal-makers, whose bonuses are likely to shrivel following the bank’s losses. And speculation is mounting that CEO Oswald Gruebel will have to step aside. The situation has been made worse by […]
In light of the startling $2 billion trading loss that UBS reported this week, my Friday Risk Reading selection is a speech from 1996 by New York Fed President William J. McDonough. As president of the New York Fed from 1993 to 2003, when he was succeeded by Tim Geithner, McDononugh spoke often about bank […]
UBS has remained oddly silent since its brief press release announcing a $2 billion loss from unauthorized trades in London. The announcement chopped some $5 billion from the bank’s market cap, and neither CEO Oswald Grübel nor any other senior executive has addressed the matter. It’s instructive to compare UBS’s public response to that of […]
Today’s stunning announcement by UBS that a rogue trader lost $2 billion presents big communications challenges for the Swiss bank. It will need to be forthcoming with regulators about the reasons for the loss and the breakdown in the bank’s internal controls. It must reassure private clients that their assets are safe, keep valued employees […]
Like many people, I have been thinking about the events of September 11, 2001, as the tenth anniversary approaches. This article from the New York Times earlier this week focused on the media’s efforts to cover the anniversary with sensitivity, and it called to mind some remarks I gave about the media’s conduct in the […]
Last week Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) abruptly announced that its CEO, Robert Kelly was leaving, citing “differences in approaches to managing the company.” The story made headlines for a day but was quickly forgotten, and the stock price has held pretty steady – both hallmarks of a communications success. Of course it […]
Ten years after the terror attack that killed two-thirds of its New York staff and nearly destroyed the firm, Cantor Fitzgerald is thriving, the New York Times reported in a Sunday feature. The firm’s success is due in large measure to CEO Howard Lutnick and a handful of executives who survived the day. Their determination, […]
Bank of America’s shot at Henry Blodget is a measure of how influential the blogosphere has now become in the financial markets. It’s also a reminder of the pitfalls of taking on critics publicly in any forum. For every company that has seen its stock price plummet, the scene within BofA is a familiar one: […]