Swiss bank UBS deletes tweet criticising FT journalist after social media backlash

Swiss investment bank UBS has deleted a tweet accusing a Financial Times journalist of “agenda journalism” after a backlash on social media.

The official UBS Twitter account said last week that FT European banking correspondent Stephen Morris’ reporting had been “embarrassing”.

It came after he wrongly reported that the Swiss bank’s latest financial results had failed to beat analyst expectations.

The FT has since added a correction to clarify that UBS did in fact beat analysts’ expectations.

But the bank said the basic story hadn’t changed, adding: “Agenda journalism?”

The public attack on Morris, an ex-Bloomberg reporter, drew criticism from other journalists prompting it to delete the tweet on Friday.

Guardian business reporter Rob Davies tweeted: “This is an entirely inappropriate way to conduct corporate comms and you should be ashamed.”

The Bureau for Investigative Journalism reporter Gareth Davies said the investment bank’s behaviour was “piss poor”.

The European Central Bank’s head of media relations Michael Steen also weighed in. He said: “No idea on substance here but if you have an issue: personal account to personal account – all well and good.

“Massive corporate/institutional account to personal account – not really a good look for criticism.”

UBS declined to comment when approached by Press Gazette.

Picture: Reuters/Feline Lim