Kweku Adoboli: UBS Trader Banned from Working in Financial Services

Convicted former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli has been formally banned from working in the financial services industry.

Kweku Adoboli, 35, was jailed for seven years in 2012 for fraud.

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had banned Kweku Adoboli, who was released from jail earlier this year.

His actions resulted in losses of £1.4 billion ($2.2 billion) for the Swiss bank, the FCA said.

UBS was fined £29.7 million ($47.5) for systems and control failures related to the unauthorized trading losses.

Kweku Adoboli said the ban marked the end of a difficult chapter in his life.

“I fully recognize the reasons for my prohibition and thank the FCA for their restraint. My hope now is to move forward in a positive way to help others learn from the mistakes I’ve made,” he said.

Kweku Adoboli’s lawyer said he wanted to repay his debt to society by using his own experience to explain how risk management controls might be avoided.

The rogue trader was arrested in September 2011 and was held in custody for nine months until his trial.

After serving almost half of his sentence for two counts of fraud, Kweku Adoboli was released from jail in June 2015.

During his trial at Southwark Crown Court, Kweku Adoboli told the jury that UBS staff were encouraged to take risks until they got “a slap on the back of the wrist” by senior managers.

Tracey McDermott of the FCA’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, said in 2012 that the bank’s faulty controls had allowed Kweku Adoboli’s losses to mount to what was the largest trading loss in the UK.

“UBS’s systems and controls were seriously defective,” she said.

“As a result, Adoboli, a relatively junior trader, was allowed to take vast and risky market positions, and UBS failed to manage the risks around that properly.”

He is facing deportation to his native Ghana after an immigration tribunal this week ruled that he should be removed from the UK.

According to the UK’s law, foreign nationals who have been sentenced to more than a year in jail should be considered for deportation.

Kweku Adoboli, the son of a UN diplomat who was educated at a Yorkshire boarding school, said he would appeal against the “heartbreaking” decision.