Born in Basel in 1950, Ospel began his career in 1977 with the Swiss Bank Corporation, an investment bank, before later engineering its merger with UBS in 1998.
Having become chairman in 2001, the beginning of his tenure was marked by the controversial grounding of the airline Swissair, with UBS criticized for playing a part in the airline’s collapse by refusing to extend it a line of credit. The bank was absolved of responsibility in a 2007 enquiry.
The end of his leadership period was brought about by another crisis much bigger than the bank itself: in 2007, the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market revealed huge liabilities in UBS’ portfolios, amounting to some CHF20 billion ($20.6 billion) in losses.
As a result of this, the bank was forced to raise almost CHF10 billion in new capital, and shareholders gave their backing to the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund taking a 10% stake in the bank. UBS also approached the Swiss government for help, and ended up transferring CHF39 billion in bad assets to the Swiss National Bank.
The crisis cost Ospel his job; he was replaced by Peter Kurer in April 2008.
Throughout his career, Ospel was also frequently scrutinized for his astronomical salary, which reached some CHF24 million in 2006, 300 times more than the average salary of a standard UBS worker. His decamping from Basel to the low-tax canton of Schwyz also didn’t help his public image.
Ospel is survived by his wife and two children. He also had two children with two previous wives.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Politics
Why cars still reign supreme in ‘rail-nation’ Switzerland
Swiss central banker wants to boost equity to head off risks
This content was published on
Equity levels at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) are much too low for the risks its large balance sheet poses, according to Martin Schlegel.
Beer sales in Switzerland watered down by bad weather
This content was published on
The past brewing year fell through in Switzerland, partly due to the bad weather. Beer sales shrank again. For the first time, per capita consumption fell below the 50 liter mark.
Compensation for Syrian after pregnant wife denied help on Swiss train
This content was published on
Switzerland’s Federal Court has partially upheld the appeal of a Syrian family being deported from Switzerland to Italy in 2014. The man now also receives compensation.
Swiss-EU negotiations: Cassis to meet Sefcovic in Bern
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will meet the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, in Bern on Wednesday.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
End of Ospel era leaves open questions
This content was published on
Editorialists warn that the bank, which was hard hit by the mortgage crisis in the United States, has some way to go to win back the trust of clients across the world. The respected Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper says UBS – which wrote down more than SFr40 billion ($39.4 billion) as result of the credit…
This content was published on
“I cannot draw a comparison (between the terror attacks and the ruin of Swissair),” UBS chairman Marcel Ospel said in an interview with the “Neue Luzerner Zeitung” newspaper on Saturday. “The attacks were by far more tragic. About 40 per cent of our workforce is based in the US and is heavily concentrated in New…
This content was published on
Much of the criticism was directed at the prosecutors for failing to make a strong enough case as well as the court for awarding the defendants around SFr3 million ($2.45 million) in compensation. It was Switzerland’s largest corporate trial and watched closely since it involved the downfall of a Swiss icon. The national airline, Swissair,…
This content was published on
The Zurich prosecutor’s office for economic crimes said on Tuesday that there was no evidence that the former chairmen had broken Swiss laws in the affair. The office also said there was no proof the men or other senior managers had taken greater risks than a more prudent businessman would have taken. UBS’s board agreed.…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.