Chastened UBS uses 150th events to polish image

Seated prominently among 600 guests including former UBS chairman Marcel Ospel, who was ousted in 2008 as the bank's losses mounted, was Axel Weber, the former Bundesbank president who is set to become chairman of UBS in May.

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Justin Urquhart Stewart, marketing director at Seven Investment Management, said UBS was doing the right thing by stressing its long history.

"The bad news is brands are built up with confidence over years and dissipated in seconds. On the comforting side they are not alone. They are just one on a list of banks in trouble," he said.

"The best thing they could do is get on the front foot and highlight their strengths including their history.. They should say: 'we've been through economic depressions and World Wars and we're still here'. You've got more chance of surviving if you've got a heritage."

According to a survey by the Brand Finance consultancy of the top 500 bank brands, UBS slipped to 30th place from 21st a year ago, but other banks like Bank of America, Santander and rival Credit Suisse saw their brands lose more absolute value. Before crisis struck, UBS was ranked sixth in the world in 2007.

"All investment banks are being tarred with the same brush, particularly in Europe. It's very difficult for any one bank to escape from that without the industry redeeming itself," said Richard Haigh, valuation consultant at Brand Finance.

"With 150 years, UBS should be playing up their Swissness," he said. "They are a very Swiss bank which has positive and negative connotations -- secretive but very trustworthy."

The UBS dinner was the first in a series of anniversary events to celebrate the June 25, 1862 establishment of the Bank in Winterthur, a forerunner of the Swiss Bankgesellschaft that merged with the Swiss Bankverein in 1998 to form today's UBS.

"WE WILL NOT REST"

UBS is focusing its celebrations on Switzerland, where the image of the country's flagship bank took a particularly hard knock after the state had to rescue it over $50 billion in subprime losses and following a messy U.S. tax dispute.