Troubled Swiss bank UBS said yesterday that it had returned a 1.20 billion Swiss franc profit (US$1.12 billion) in the final quarter of last year, shrugging off more than a year of quarterly losses.
The turnaround in the final three months of the year helped the bank cut its annual net loss to SF2.73 billion, compared with SF21.29 billion at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, UBS said in a statement.
However, the Swiss banking flagship, which also faced bruising litigation over client tax fraud in the US, indicated that it was still losing money from unsettled clients and that it expected outflows to continue “in the immediate future.”
Net new money outflows totaled SF56.2 billion from wealth and asset management divisions in the fourth quarter, despite an increase in assets from Asia.
‘DISAPPOINTING’
In a letter to shareholders, UBS’ fresh management team termed that trend “disappointing,” despite the sharp improvement in the bank’s overall profitability.
“We entered 2009 at the height of the crisis. By the end of 2009, UBS has returned to profitability, delivering on its priorities,” chief executive Oswald Gruebel said. “We expect that our return to profitability will increase clients’ confidence in UBS and restore our reputation.”
UBS said that addressing the causes of net new money outflows “remains a main priority.”
The fourth quarter result outstripped a poll of analysts’ expectations by Swiss financial news agency AWP, which had expected a net profit of SF374 million.
HARDEST HIT
The bank, which was one of the hardest hit in the global financial crisis but has struggled to recover compared with some of its US and British rivals, said it had bolstered its capital reserves through last year.
Its Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of the solidity of reserves, which were sorely tested in the crisis, reached 15.4 percent by the end of last year, compared with 11 percent a year earlier.
UBS said it expected to see further effects of its rebuilding over the coming quarters, with an improvement in its crisis-hit investment bank performance as a whole this year.
“The investment bank’s results always depend heavily on market vitality and client activity levels have been high in January,” the statement said. “UBS is confident that the measures it is taking to address the causes of client outflows will be effective, but in the immediate future still expects to report outflows with some pressure on margins.”
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well
RSS