After an ex-UBS banker accused her boss of rape after a workplace event, the Swiss bank is getting outside help in looking at how well it dealt with the allegations at the time.
UBS has hired law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to investigate its handling of an alleged rape case which has roiled the bank, according to news agency «Bloomberg». A female banker accused her boss of rape following a work function last year, and voiced disappointment about how UBS handled the matter.
The bank has also put an internal team on the case, which comes as part of a wider discussion of macho culture, intimidation, and workplace diversity in investment banking. The stakes are high for UBS: the woman's account of how the bank dealt with the matter raises questions about the bank's effectiveness in getting to the bottom of the case.
Freshfields has worked for UBS before: the Fleet Street-based firm set up the Swiss bank's European bank bank UBS SE (in German) in Frankfurt. The new entity ties the Swiss bank's continental European business together, a bid to save costs.
