UBS chief says worst of crisis is over
ZURICH - The head of embattled Swiss bank UBS said yesterday that the worst was behind it after it was recently forced to write down about US$37 billion (S$50.7 billion) of assets hit by the United States sub-prime crisis.
‘I definitely think that the worst is behind us,’ UBS chief executive Marcel Rohner told Swiss newspaper Le Temps. ‘There will certainly be plenty of things for banks to clear up over the next two years, but as far as systemic risks are concerned, we’ve got over the hardest part.’
He added that UBS’ investment banking arm had ‘developed some questionable economic activities’ in the run-up to the sub-prime crisis. ‘We made the mistake of adopting an imitation strategy to try and catch up with our competitors in fixed income operations.’
Earlier this month, it posted first-quarter losses of 11.5 billion Swiss francs (S$15.1 billion). The bank faces fresh problems after a former member of its private banking team was detained in the US as part of a tax evasion probe.
The bank decided to shut down its cross-border private banking business for US customers in November last year, but recently, Bradley Birkenfeld, a former senior banker, was indicted for helping wealthy Americans to evade paying income tax on their investments. - AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Source : Straits Times - 30 May 2008
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