Hard-hit Swiss bank UBS AG, beset by a US tax evasion probe, yesterday reported a second-quarter loss of 1.4 billion Swiss francs (US$1.3 billion) in an improvement over the first three months of the year.
On a year-on-year basis, however, the bank, which has been struggling to recover from major losses in the US mortgage crisis, said the result was more than three times the SF395 million loss it posted for the same period last year, when UBS was also saddled with writedowns of US$5.1 billion.
The bank has been in the middle of a US-Swiss legal battle over the Internal Revenue Service’s search for US tax evaders. The two governments said on Friday they reached a settlement in the case in which thousands of wealthy Americans are suspected of hiding billions of dollars with the Swiss banking giant.
Swiss media have reported that under the deal, whose details are still being worked out, the bank will escape paying a fine, but will have to hand over the names of 5,000 investors where there is strong evidence of tax evasion.
Chief executive Oswald Gruebel and chairman Kaspar Villiger said the results were in line with expectations that it would take time to turn the business around.
“While our second-quarter results were clearly unsatisfactory, they show significant progress towards returning to profitability and restoring client trust,” they said in a letter to shareholders.
The bank said that on the bright side it had achieved a “significant reduction in legacy risk positions and associated losses, including lower credit loss expenses.”
The bank, once the largest wealth manager in the world, said the outflows of money rose sharply in the quarter as investors pulled out assets. The net new money outflow in the quarter was SF39.4 billion (US$37 billion), compared with SF14.9 billion in the first quarter.
The bank’s payroll dropped 4,400 employees during the quarter to 71,806.
UBS said the results were an improvement over the first quarter, when the loss was SF1.98 billion. The second quarter benefited from lower losses on risk positions from businesses now exited or in the process of being exited.
It said the second quarter results were significantly affected by a charges of more than SF2 billion for own credit on financial liabilities designated at fair value, restructuring and goodwill impairment for the sale of a subsidiary.
The bank had said it would report a loss, and the amount was in the range expected by analysts.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region