UBS has significantly increased its estimate of huge fourth-quarter losses from the American sub-prime mortgage crisis, further increasing the pressure on Marcel Ospel, its chairman.The banks needs to step up to the plate and make some changes at the top. I see very little opportunity for Ospel to weather this continuing and growing storm. Keep a close eye on the bank.
The Swiss bank said yesterday that its quarterly losses from the sub-prime crash would be $14 billion (£7 billion), $4 billion more than the figure given a month earlier. Although UBS's total $18.4 billion of sub-prime losses so far are not as large as those of Citigroup or Merrill Lynch, they are the biggest among any of the European banks.
... To make matters worse, UBS revealed that it still owned about $29 billion of bonds and other investments backed by sub-prime mortgages, leaving scope for further writedowns in addition to the $18.4 billion that it has lost so far.
For more:
Reuters
Swissinfo.ch
Financial Director
Business Week
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