Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, today reported a fourth consecutive quarterly loss after a charge to reflect an improvement in the company's own debt outweighed a rebound in trading revenue.
The third-quarter net loss was 564 million Swiss francs (around €373 million), compared with a 283 million-francs profit a year earlier, the Zurich-based bank said today. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated a loss of 337 million francs.
The results included a 1.44 billion-franc accounting charge that reflects rising costs to UBS should it buy back outstanding debt.
Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel, who joined in February, is trying to halt redemptions by wealthy clients and rebuild the investment bank after more than $50 billion of losses and asset writedowns tied to the financial crisis.
The pretax loss at UBS's investment bank narrowed to 1.37 billion francs in the third quarter from a 2.75 billion-franc loss a year earlier, while earnings at the wealth management and Swiss bank unit slumped 52 per cent to 792 million francs.
Wealth management Americas saw profit fall 41 per cent to 110 million francs, while asset management's earnings dropped 69 per cent to 130 million francs.
In adding to the charge on its own debt, UBS booked a net loss of 409 million francs related to the sale of its Brazilian Pactual unit because of foreign currency fluctuations, and a 305 million-franc loss from the sale of the Swiss government's investment.
The bank said it expects another charge on own debt in the fourth quarter.
Sales and trading revenue of 2.15 billion francs was the bank's highest of the past nine quarters, as the fixed-income business had its first quarter of positive revenue during that period.
UBS shares rose 17 per cent this year to 17.35 francs in Swiss trading, valuing the company at 61.7 billion francs.
Bloomberg