Marcel Ospel

Marcel Louis Ospel (born February 8, 1950 in Basel) was a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of UBS AG, the largest bank in Switzerland.

Marcel Ospel had an income in 2005 of around 24 million CHF.

After the company reported 19 billion U.S. dollar write-downs, Mr. Ospel was forced to withdraw his candidacy for re-election to the Board at the Annual General Meeting on 23 April 2008. It has been suggested that Ospel should be prosecuted for criminal negligence and gross mismanagement of UBS*

Timeline

• 1977-1980 Swiss Bank Corporation in the Central Planning and Marketing Division
• 1980-1984 SBC London and New York in the Capital Markets division
• 1984-1987 Managing Director with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets
• 1987-1990 In charge of Securities Trading and Sales at SBC
• 1990-1995 Member of the Executive Board of SBC
• 1995-1996 CEO of SBC Warburg
• 1996-1998 President and Group Chief Executive Officer of Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC)
• 1999-2001 Group Chief Executive Officer, UBS AG
• 2001-2008 Chairman of the Board of Directors, UBS AG

Recognition

2003 marketing prize of Gesellschaft für Marketing for UBS world-wide single-brand strategy.

Criticisms

In 2001, he was criticized for evading requests to extend Swissair's line of credit, leading some people to believe that the dramatic grounding of Swissair planes on October 2 was Ospel's responsibility. These theories were later countered by information and details revealed in the media, and by the Swissair trial, held in 2007, which seemed to indicate otherwise.

References

• Nolmans, Erik (Nov. 14, 2005). "UBS Fastens its Seatbelts". FORTUNE, p. 20.