File photo of newly appointed Swiss bank UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti smiling during a Reuters interview in downtown Milan
Sergio Ermotti -- whose role at Swiss bank UBS may change from interim CEO to permanent CEO this week -- smiles during a Reuters interview in downtown Milan in this July 14, 2010, file photo. REUTERS

The UBS board will appoint Sergio Ermotti as permanent CEO shortly before a keenly awaited investor day on Thursday, a Swiss newspaper reported Sunday.

Citing an unnamed source, the SonntagsZeitung paper said the board would make the appointment on a telephone conference call so Ermotti could present the bank's new strategy in New York as permanent CEO.

UBS declined to comment on the report.

Reuters reported last week that Ermotti, appointed interim CEO after Oswald Gruebel stepped down in the wake of a $2 billion rogue trading scandal, was close to clinching board backing as permanent CEO.

UBS Chairman Kaspar Villiger said on Tuesday the board does not want to hold up a decision on naming a permanent CEO unnecessarily, but will not let itself be pressured into making a hasty decision, either.

The board is seen as under pressure to end the power vacuum at the Swiss bank following the rogue trading incident.

Ermotti is expected to announce on Thursday UBS is scaling back its scandal-hit investment bank to focus on its core wealth management business, but some analysts have suggested his interim position might have made a radical overhaul impossible.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by David Cowell)

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