On Tuesday, Knight Vinke removed a majority of his UBS shares from many investment institutions. The shareholder vented nearly 1% stake in the Union Bank of Switzerland in late 2015. This move by the shareholder comes after his failure in convincing the Swiss bank to modify its strategy.

In May 2013, the activist shareholder started putting pressure on the Swiss bank urging it to divide its wealth management sector from investment bank business. He conveyed his intention to the bank through newspaper ads and frequent letters, Reuters said citing a spokesman with knowledge of the source.

However, the Swiss bank refused the split idea of Knight Vinke saying that the two segments will benefit by working together. A spokesman of the shareholder confirmed that the Knight abandoned his holdings in UBS with a view of creating large profit for his investors. The Knight along with his supporters will closely watch the situation prevailing in UBS, the spokesman added. Reuters noted that Handelsblatt, a newspaper in Germany, was the first to report the shareholder's sale of shares in the Swiss bank.

Nonetheless, other major investors failed to join Knight Vinke's argument with UBS. He debated that the Swiss bank could boost its market value for investors as well as lower risk by splitting its businesses. According to UBS spokesman, there is no proper evidence to back up Knight's splitting idea. The spokesman also added that the Swiss bank has never modified its risk strategy in the investment bank sector and the shareholders are aware of the bank's policy.

According to FINANCIAL REVIEW, UBS along with Canaccord Genuity has been hired by the Australian-based online retailer Ruslan Kogan for an initial public offering worth at $300 million during the final six-month period of 2016. Kogan is a well-established brand among the major investors with annual revenues close to $250 million. The Australian retailer utilizes information technology combined with logistics, efficiency and market research to sell a minimum of 10K different items as well as to lower costs.

In addition, three equity research leaders have quit UBS Europe. Charles Armitage, leader of European defence and aerospace research, Frederic Stahl, leader of capital goods research in Europe, and Eva Quiroga, the leader of the household, luxury products and personal care team in Europe, have left the Swiss bank's Europe unit, BUSINESS INSIDER said quoting people with knowledge of the source. However, the bank did not comment on this matter.

The Swiss bank remains stubborn in its belief not to divide its businesses and that provoked Knight Vinke to sell all his stakes in the bank. Knight Vinke along with his supports are monitoring the future activities of the bank.