Out with the old

UBS’s new chairman has moved swiftly to wipe clean the stains left on the Swiss bank by his predecessor. Peter Kurer, who rose to the top job from the general counsel’s post, promised an overhaul of the unpalatable corporate governance structure used by Marcel Ospel. He has delivered. Ospel concentrated power at UBS in a cloistered chairman’s office - a third level of management alongside the board and executive management. His tight grip over strategy and risk-taking led to disastrous losses a...