Rogue banker loses UBS £1.3bn

Yikes! This is something we really didn't need right now, and a reminder that our economies are run by fallible human beings:

A MAN was arrested today after top Swiss banking group UBS revealed a rogue trader lost an estimated £1.3billion.

Kweku Adoboli, 31, was nicked at 3.30am and is being held in London on suspicion of fraud.

UBS said the unauthorised trading took place in its investment banking division. It added that customer accounts were not affected.

[. . .]

Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners, said the alleged rogue trade is rumoured to involve a Swiss franc transaction that went wrong after the Swiss National Bank intervened to lower the value of its currency.

 Ms Cooper said the arrest will call UBS's risk management into question and an unexpected trading loss could do "significant reputational damage" to the bank.

[. . .]

Meanwhile, a man claiming to be Adoboli's former landlord said he was a "very nice guy, very polite".

Philip Octave said he let a £1,000-a-month flat to Adoboli in Shoreditch, East London, until four months ago.

He added: "He was a very nice guy, very polite. He would speak to anybody. I haven't got a bad word to say about him.

"I wouldn't say he was the tidiest person but he was a good tenant."

Kweku Adoboli; bet gone wrong costs his firm big cheddar