UBS’s annual meeting last year was overshadowed by an activist investor’s sharp-edged call for the Swiss giant to dump its problematic investment bank. This year, things were different.

Investor Knight Vinke had publicly urged UBS to spin off the investment bank, in order to shield UBS's flagship wealth management business from potential "damage" inflicted by the unit. After all, Knight Vinke noted then, the investment bank racked up tens of billions of dollars in losses during the financial crisis, while legal issues and other gaffes related to the business had cost the parent company additional billions. Knight Vinke chose to deliver that broadside on the day of UBS's annual gathering of shareholders in Zurich.