let's hope UBS is around long enough to complete the...

let's hope UBS is around long enough to complete the deal....

from news.com.au

Switzerland's UBS set to announce record loss
From correspondents in Geneva
Agence France-Presse
January 12, 2009 09:13am

SWITZERLAND'S biggest bank is to announce the largest loss in the country's history, running into billions of dollars, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
It said UBS would record an overall loss in 2008 of 20 billion Swiss francs ($25.24 billion), in spite of showing a profit of 296 million francs in the third quarter, when it reports results on February 10.

The German language Sonntag, which is generally well-informed, said that the bank had racked up 8 billion francs in losses in the final quarter of 2008, bringing the total for the year to 20 billion.

UBS admitted in the autumn when it announced third quarter results that the global financial crisis had hit it hard and warned it could lose up to five billion francs in the final quarter.

UBS was heavily exposed to risky US sub-prime mortgage business and had to write down almost $US47 billion ($65.9 billion) in share values. In recent months clients have taken fright and withdrawn a total of 83.6 billion francs.

The Swiss Government intervened in October with a rescue plan of $US60 billion.

Since then the bank has been hit by the fraudulent Ponzi scheme of US fraudster Bernard Madoff and the failure of the US subsidiary of the Dutch group LyondellBasell, and its share value has lost two thirds over the year.