Pensioner collects just 5 cents for UBS chairman

ZURICH, April 10 (Reuters) - A pensioner has been collecting sympathy money for UBS AG's (UBSN.VX) departing chairman Marcel Ospel on a village square, local press reported -- but secured just 5 cents from passers-by.

Once well-respected but now widely lampooned, Ospel said he decided to quit UBS -- the bank worst-hit by the meltdown in U.S. mortgages with $37 billion written down -- last week after extensive criticism for letting Switzerland's flagship bank sail blithely into dangerous waters. "Every day the newspapers are full of reports about Ospel. But to do something for him? That is something different," Braun told Swiss newspaper Blick.

Ospel is not a well-loved figure in Switzerland and Blick -- the country's biggest-selling daily newspaper -- ran a highly critical front page story in 2006 publicising his high salary, a reported 26 million Swiss francs ($25.7 million).

"Unfortunately I only collected 5 rappen ($0.05)," laughed Braun, who was collecting donations in a wicker basket in the village of Haegendorf, west of Zurich.

"Of course I took the 5 rappen to the nearest UBS branch immedediately." (Reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Andrew Hurst)