Switzerland, Britain launch independent financial probe into UBS

VIENNA, September 17 (Itar-Tass) -- The Swiss Financial Markets
Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the UK Financial Services Authority
(FSA) have started an independent investigation of the bank UBS, which has
suffered a damage of two billion dollars, FINMA said in a news release.
FINMA said that in particular the probe would focus on the details of
unauthorized trading transactions, as well as actions by the regulatory
authorities, which permitted those operations. There have been no hints as
to how long the investigation may proceed.
The news of the two billion dollar losses arrived on Wednesday, and
the suspect in the unauthorized transactions, Kweku Adoboli, was arrested
on Thursday morning. According to British media, the bank's losses were
caused by large speculative agreements Adoboli had concluded. Their
success depended on the Swiss franc. Obviously, the trader made the wrong
bet. The transactions proved unprofitable after the central bank of
Switzerland announced measures to reduce the exchange rate. The Swiss
franc fell and the stock prices of Swiss companies soared.