'Turnaround could take years'

NEW UBS chief executive Oswald Gruebel said it could take years to return the troubled Swiss bank to sustained profitability in an interview published Sunday.

Mr Gruebel also told the NZZ am Sonntag that it would take the banking industry 'a long time' to work 'like it used to.' Asked how long it would take to return UBS to lasting profits again, he said: 'If there were only factors that I could determine myself I would say two to three years. But there's the market, and that I can't control.'

Mr Gruebel underlined that there was a 'natural' limit of five years, by which time he will be 70.

The 65 year-old German, who led a turnaround at rival Credit Suisse earlier this decade, was appointed chief executive of UBS on Thursday after Marcel Rohner resigned following just 18 months in the job.

While Mr Gruebel underlined that he was still taking stock of the situation at Switzerland's biggest bank, he confirmed in the interview that more cost-cutting would be necessary.

'When we have overall costs of 30 billion Swiss francs, you should already assume that we have room to manage the whole bank somewhat more efficiently,' he said.

'I don't want to commit myself to a figure yet. But costs must go down further,' he added.

UBS lost billions in the United States subprime home loan crisis and the ensuing financial fallout and is also caught up in a costly legal dispute with the US over a tax evasion probe.