UBS ignored unauthorised trades for profit - Adoboli's lawyer

UBS turned a blind eye when traders broke the bank's own internal rules, as long as they made a profit for the bank, the lawyer defending 'rogue trader' Kweku Adoboli has argued.

Charles Sherrard, defending the man who cost UBS more than $2bn in unauthorised trades, said the bank disregarded its own rules when profits were rolling in, adding the Swiss bank was "aggressive in terms of its desire to make profit", Bloomberg reports. Sherrard said the focus on profit above all else became key at the bank, although this was denied by another former employee. Adoboli is accused of fraud and false accounting in relation to the trades which lost the bank $2.3bn. Shortly before his arrest, the trader allegedly risked a further $5bn betting on S&P 500 futures, as well a...