UBS chairman Marcel Ospel today expressed relief over the outcome of the Swiss bank's extraordinary general meeting in Basel, where shareholders voted by a narrow margin against a special audit of the group as well as supporting capital injections from two sovereign investors.

During the often lively meeting, shareholders questioned UBS’ decision to accept capital from the Singapore Government Investment Corporation and an unnamed Middle Eastern investor, asking why the Swiss bank could not have followed the capital-raising example of French bank Société Générale, which earlier this month launched a €5.5bn ($8.3bn) rights following losses incurred by rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel.