Oct 27 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch veteran Robert McCann, the new head of UBS's loss-making U.S. wealth management unit, said he had no plans to sell the business that was battered by a high-profile tax row.
Following is a timeline of major events at UBS this year: Feb. 10, 2009 -- Posts a 2008 loss of 19.7 billion francs, the biggest ever for a Swiss company. Cuts 2,000 more jobs.
Feb. 18 -- Agrees to pay $780 million and identify certain U.S. clients to settle criminal fraud charges that it assisted rich Americans to evade taxes.
Feb. 19 -- U.S. tax authorities say they are still pursuing a civil lawsuit seeking to access details on 52,000 UBS clients.
Feb. 20 -- Warns that it could go out of business if it complies with an order to reveal the names of suspected U.S. tax dodgers and would require it to violate Swiss law in a manner that would expose it to penalties.
Feb. 26 -- Appoints Oswald Gruebel, former head of rival Credit Suisse, as chief executive, replacing Marcel Rohner.
March 4 -- Chairman Peter Kurer steps down, replaced by Kaspar Villiger, a former Swiss finance minister.
March 13 -- Switzerland agrees to make concessions on bank secrecy amid a global crackdown on tax evasion.
April 2 -- U.S. authorities arrest and charge an accountant in Florida in the first of what they say could be a series of tax evasion prosecutions of American clients of UBS.
May 5 -- Confirms a first-quarter net loss of 2 billion francs on yet more writedowns and client withdrawals, and announces staff cuts of 10,000.
July 10 -- Gruebel sends a memorandum to the bank's top executives saying the bank could not comply with the U.S. request to disclose the identity of the 52,000 account holders.
July 28 -- A U.S. client of UBS pleads guilty to using Swiss bank accounts to hide money from the U.S. taxman and says a Swiss government official received $45,000 to help cover up the fraud. Swiss prosecutors launch an investigation the next day.
Aug. 4 -- UBS posts a Q2 net loss of 1.4 billion francs as wealthy clients are scared off by the tax row.
Aug. 18 -- A filing in a U.S. federal court shows U.S. authorities are criminally investigating more than 150 U.S. clients of UBS.
Aug. 19 -- Switzerland says it will hand over details of about 4,450 bank accounts to U.S. authorities as part of the deal to settle the UBS tax case. It effectively ends a separate civil lawsuit by U.S. authorities that sought up to 52,000 account names.
Aug. 20 -- Switzerland sells its 9 percent stake in UBS for 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($5.1 billion), making a solid profit from last year's rescue of the bank.
Aug. 21 -- A former UBS banker and key informant in the U.S. tax evasion case is sentenced to three years and four months in prison for helping a billionaire hide assets from U.S. tax authorities.
Sept. 9 -- A Connecticut court orders UBS to pledge assets or post a $35 million bond after finding "probable cause" that the bank committed securities fraud in a deal with Pursuit Partners, the hedge fund's lawyers say.
Sept. 18 -- Switzerland's stock exchange says it is investigating UBS for possible breaches of rules regarding publication of price sensitive information.
Oct. 2 -- UBS could weather a severe deterioration of the economy, Swiss banking regulator FINMA says, publishing its conclusion from a stress test for the banks.
Oct. 27 - Robert McCann, from Merrill Lynch, becomes head of the U.S. wealth management unit of UBS at $850,000-a-year. (Reporting by Sam Cage and Lisa Jucca; Additional writing by David Cutler, Jijo Jacob and Carl Bagh; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)