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UBS Unit Thrived as Strategist Was Fired, Ex-Group Head Says

  • Trevor Murray claims he resisted writing bullish reports
  • Former executive says he ‘absolutely’ didn’t pressure Murray
An illuminated UBS logo sits above office windows outside a bank branch, operated by UBS Group AG, in Zurich, Switzerland, on Feb. 10, 2015. .

Photographer: Philipp Schmidli/Bloomberg

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UBS Group AG’s commercial mortgage-backed securities business was thriving in 2012, a former executive said, challenging the Swiss bank’s claim that financial woes led it to dismiss a senior strategist.

Kenneth Cohen, UBS’s ex-head of commercial real estate finance who left the bank in 2013, testified Wednesday at the trial brought by former strategist Trevor Murray, who contends he was fired for blowing the whistle on alleged attempts by UBS’s traders to influence his independent reports.