UBS aims to cut its ties with the Swiss government by buying its way out of a “bad bank” deal and to return to health in a year, says Oswald Grübel, chief executive, who has likened its battering in the financial crisis to a “15-round boxing match”.

The Swiss bank has locked horns with regulators at Finma, Switzerland’s financial watchdog, over its desire to leave the bad bank scheme, under which UBS pays for protection against big losses on toxic assets.