UBS unveils another loss amid reshape
SWISS bank UBS has reported a third quarter loss of SFr564.4m (£337m) after being hit by a hike in accounting charges.
The result means the bank has now suffered four successive quarters of losses as it restructures in the face of the credit crunch. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has been particularly badly hit by the global financial crisis after heavy investment in the US sub-prime mortgage market.
It was forced to pay out “substantial accounting charges” of SFr2.15bn over the last quarter.
The bank also saw a huge outflow of funds, with wealthy customers withdrawing assets amounting to SFr36.7bn in the three months ending 30 September. Stock at the Zurich-based lender dived by 5.1 per cent after yesterday’s announcement.
Chief executive Oswald Grubel said: “We do not expect an immediate recovery in client net new money flows, and the impact of low interest rates continues to hold back revenues.”
However he added that pre-tax operating profit excluding charges nearly doubled to SFr1.6bn, indicating that the bank was on the road to recovery.
Meanwhile operating income rose to SFr5.77bn – up four per cent on the same period last year. “UBS expects to see further progress in restoring the underlying profitability of the business in future quarters” said Grubel.
The chief executive, who joined in February, has hired former Merrill Lynch executive Robert J McCann to help stop client withdrawals at the wealth management unit. The results came after UBS agreed to provide details of 4,450 accounts to the US.
• HSBC yesterday revealed it will cut 1,700 jobs from its UK workforce in an “essential streamlining” of the business. The cuts will focus on the credit card and collections unit.
ADVISER ROLE FOR LLOYDS AND RBS
UBS has taken key roles on two landmark deals to shore up British banks – landing the Swiss bank a welcome boost in fees and prestige on the same day it shocked the market with worse-than-expected results. UBS is working alongside Bank of America Merrill Lynch to raise £13.5bn for Lloyds in the world’s largest rights issue. It is also working with Morgan Stanley to advise RBS on its participation in the Asset Protection Scheme (APS).
UBS’ advisory team is led by Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, co-chief executive of the investment bank, and Chris Fox, a managing director in the bank’s London financial institutions group.
Lloyds is paying £500m in fees and expenses, of which £190m will go to the six banks underwriting the rights issue – UBS and Merrill alongside Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JPMorgan Cazenove. As joint sponsors and global co-ordinators, UBS and Merrill will earn more than the other four, with around £32m each. Another £143.7m will be paid by Lloyds to the UK Treasury to reward it for taking up its entitlement, while £170m will be spent on debt instruments and administrative costs. The banks’ fees equate to 2.25 per cent, plus a discretionary fee of 0.2 per cent – below the 2.75 per cent base fee paid by HSBC when it raised £12.9bn in April. Eton-educated Wilmot-Sitwell is the son of former SG Warburg chairman Peter Wilmot-Sitwell. He was named co-CEO of UBS investment bank in April, making him one of London’s most senior bankers. Fox, a Cambridge university graduate, joined UBS in 1993.