UBS's chairman to follow CEO out

UBS' chairman Peter Kurer will not stand for re-election at its next annual general meeting on April 15.

This follows last week's departure of the bank's chief executive, Marcel Rohner, who was replaced by Credit Suisse's former chief executive Oswald Grübel.

"One year ago I accepted the position of chairman out of my sense of responsibility for the bank, its shareholders, clients, staff and the communities in which we work," said Kurer. "At that time, I announced we had to resolve numerous and challenging issues… [including] succession planning designed to enhance the best leadership of the organisation going forward. I now think it is time to complete this transition and leave the office at the end of my one-year term."

The UBS board of directors has proposed Kaspar Villiger as a candidate for its next chairman. He is a former finance minister for the Swiss government and currently sits on the boards of three Swiss corporations: reinsurer Swiss Re, food manufacturer Nestlé and newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Villiger said, "I believe these to be exceptional times for UBS and Switzerland, and I recognize the difficulties that still lie ahead. This is precisely why I have accepted to chair the board of UBS, out of a sense of service to this country and its people."

If elected, he will resign from all corporate positions to focus on serving UBS.

In February, the bank announced it made a fourth quarter net loss of Sfr8.1 billion ($7 billion), bringing its full-year 2008 net losses to Sfr19.7 billion.

See also: UBS replaces CEO
Q4 loss of Sfr8.1 billion for UBS