In a statement, City of London Police say the 31 year old has now been charged with fraud by abuse of position and false accounting. He has been remanded in custody until a committal hearing on 22 September.

Earlier, the BBC claimed that UBS only learned of the unauthorised trades after Adoboli came forward and volunteered the information. It is also understood that the losses were made through several small trades over many months.

Adoboli worked on UBS's Delta One equities desk with exchange-traded funds but had previously held a back office position, which may have helped him to skirt controls.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Adoboli is being represented by lawyer Michael Caplan at Kingsley Napley, the firm that represented Nick Leeson, the trader who brought down Barings in 1995.