UBS trader 'sorry beyond words'

Kweku Adoboli, the UBS trader charged with fraud and false accounting that may have resulted in a $2.3 billion loss, said through his lawyer that he was "sorry beyond words" after facing an additional fraud charge at a court hearing today.

The 31-year-old didn't apply for bail when he appeared at a magistrates court in London. Prosecutor David
Levy said the alleged loss may exceed $2.3 billion (€1.7 billion). Mr Adoboli wasn't required to enter a plea today and another hearing was scheduled for October 20th.

The trader is "sorry beyond words for what happened here", said Mr Adoboli's lawyer Patrick Gibbs said, and apologised for his "disastrous miscalculations".

Mr Adoboli, who appeared today wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and navy tie, has been in police custody since he was arrested September 15th on suspicion of making the unauthorised trades. Prosecutors charged him September 17th with fraud and false accounting dating back to 2008.

Mr Adoboli "dishonestly abused" his position of trust as a senior trader on the global synthetic
equity desk, "intending thereby to make a gain" for himself and "to expose UBS to a risk of loss," prosecutors said in court papers. He was "expected to safeguard and not to act against the financial interest of UBS", they said.

Mr Adoboli worked for UBS's investment bank on its Delta One desk, which handles trades for clients, typically helping them to speculate on, or hedge the performance of, a basket of securities. The group also trades using the bank's own money. UBS has said that no client positions were affected.

UBS's loss came from trading in Standard and Poor's 500, DAX and EuroStoxx index futures over the past three months, according to the bank. The risk of the trades was masked by fictitious positions, UBS said.

The FSA and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority last week opened a joint investigation into control failures at UBS that allowed the trades to go undetected.

Bloomberg