UBS Is Rooting Out Negative Elements, Orcel Tells Panel

UBS AG (UBSN) is in the process of rooting out “negative elements” of its corporate culture after Switzerland’s largest bank was fined $1.5 billion by regulators for trying to rig global interest rates, said Andrea Orcel, chief executive officer of the investment bank. “We all got probably too arrogant, too self-convinced the things were correct the way they were — I think the industry has to change,” Orcel, 49, said at a parliamentary hearing on Libor in London today. “There were certainly elements of our culture that were negative and that need to be rooted out and elements of our culture that we didn’t understand.” The UBS settlement is the second in the investigation of global interest rates after Barclays Plc (BARC) in June agreed to pay 290 million pounds ($466 million). Regulators have sought information from more than a dozen banks that set rates in the U.S., Europe and Japan to make their finances appear healthier. More than $300 trillion of loans, mortgages, financial products and contracts are linked to Libor. UBS rose 2.6 percent to 15.48 Swiss francs at 12:24 pm in Zurich. The shares have gained 45 percent over the past year. More…

News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company: UBS, Barclays  | Source: Bloomberg