UBS’s Reason for Firing Veteran Banker Found ‘Defamatory’

(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG’s reason for dismissing veteran investment banker Jim Boland was defamatory, an arbitration panel found.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel of independent arbitrators said that the reason for Boland’s exit from UBS should be changed to “voluntary,” and the termination determination should be deleted in its entirety, according to a filing. 

“The panel recommends expungement based on the defamatory nature of the information,” it said in an arbitration decision dated Monday.

UBS fired Boland as head of Americas leveraged finance in 2018 for allegedly failing to provide full information to his managers about changes to a transaction, Finra records show. Boland appealed his dismissal.

“UBS opposed the expungement request and disagrees with the panel’s recommendation,” said Erica Chase, a spokeswoman for the bank. 

The episode was tied to a financing he was working on for Ares Capital Management earlier that year. During the process, UBS determined that Boland didn’t disclose to his superiors that a bond the firm was underwriting had later been flipped to a loan structure, filings show.

Boland had sought $3.3 million for canceled awards, roughly $2 million for “unjust enrichment” and $10 million in punitive damages from UBS, according to the Finra filing. The banker reached a monetary settlement with Zurich-based UBS in March, the filing shows, without disclosing the amount.

A representative for UBS had no immediate comment. 

“Mr. Boland worked tirelessly and indefatigably for UBS for nearly two decades and was at all times an extraordinarily profitable, loyal, and culture-carrying senior executive with the utmost integrity,” said John Singer, an attorney at Singer Deutsch LLP who represented Boland. “He cherished his time at UBS and is extremely pleased with the Finra award and outcome.”

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