UBS trader was a good tenant but not tidy

LONDON (Reuters) - A trader arrested in connection with a $2 billion loss at Swiss bank UBS lived until recently in a 1,000 pound ($1,600) per week apartment, once a Jewish soup kitchen, in London's East End.

Philip Octave said on Thursday he had been the landlord of Kweku Adoboli, 31, whom he described as well-dressed and a good tenant, although he fell behind a couple of times on the rent.

Octave said he had asked Adoboli to leave this summer as he liked to "refresh his tenants."

Police arrested Adoboli -- a director of exchange traded funds in London for UBS -- in the early hours of Thursday, and the bank stunned markets by announcing the potential loss at the start of business.

"He lived here for about 2-1/2 years. He was a very, very nice guy. I have not got a bad word to say about him. He was not the tidiest person but he was a good tenant," Octave told reporters gathered outside the apartment in London. "He was very well spoken, his references all passed and he dressed smartly."

"There were a couple of times when he was behind on rent but he made it up quickly," he said.

Behind Octave stood a brownstone apartment with the phrase "Soup kitchen for the Jewish poor" etched above the door.

Wedged between London's Petticoat Lane street market and the gentrified Spitalfields market, the building had served as soup kitchen for much of the past century before being converted into a 3,000 square foot apartment.

Octave said Adoboli enjoyed the bars around the area, where the wealthy City of London rubs shoulders with the grimier East End. It would have been only a short walk to UBS offices near Liverpool Street station.

Adoboli had worked at UBS since March 2006, according to his profile on the Financial Services Authority (FSA) register and was authorized to deal as both a principal and agent.

Adoboli studied computer science and management at Nottingham University in central England from 2000-03, where he was a member of the students union committee.

Octave said Adoboli had had a steady girlfriend, thought to be a nurse, and family ties to Africa. His job took him away from home frequently on trips to France and the United States.

($1 = 0.635 pound)

(Additional reporting by Steve Slater, Julie Crust, Matt Scuffham and Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Alexander Smith)