UBS rogue trader losses raised to $2.3B

Oswald Gruebel, the chief executive of UBS, has dismissed calls for his resignation as politically motivated, even as the Swiss banking giant raised its rogue trading loss to $2.3 billion.

UBS AG had previously put the loss at $2 billion when news of the scandal broke Thursday.

In a bid to reassure investors, the Zurich-based bank said Sunday it has "now covered the risk resulting from the unauthorized trading" and its equities business "is again operating normally within its previously defined risk limits." UBS also confirmed that the trader, Kweku Adoboli, 31, was already under investigation by the bank when he revealed his actions to authorities Wednesday.

"The loss resulted from unauthorized speculative trading in various S&P 500, DAX, and EuroStoxx index futures over the last three months," UBS said, adding that the magnitude of the bank's risk exposure was hidden by fake trades.

Speaking for the first time since UBS revealed the loss, Gruebel told the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag that he has no intentions of resigning, and that the loss couldn't have been prevented. "If someone acts with criminal energy, then you can't do anything. That will always be the case in our business," he said.

But some Swiss politicians and commentators have called for Gruebel's head to roll over the loss, which is likely to put UBS' third-quarter results deep in the red. Gruebel was brought in more than two years ago to revive the bank's fortunes after missteps that included vast losses in the U.S. subprime mortgage market and an embarrassing U.S. tax evasion case. -- AP