If you didn't get the message from JP Morgan's $1.5 billion write-down that the carnage on Wall Street is not over, UBS trumpeted it from the Swiss Alps this morning with the announcement that it had written down another $5.1 billion in mortgage loans and other debt instruments. For those keeping track at home, the global write downs from the credit crisis now amount to around $500 billion.
UBS also said it is backing off plans to integrate its three main business units, wealth management, asset management and investment banking. This move is widely understood as a reaction to pressure from US regulators and lawmakers who have charged the Swiss bank with aiding clients in tax dodges. Giving the units more autonomy may be the first step in spinning them off entirely, a move that might allow UBS to continue its investment banking business in the US if lawmakers continue their chase after its wealth management unit.
UBS Losses Greater Than Expected [New York Times]
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 9:37AM
What's the old saying? "If you see a Swiss Banker jumping out of a window, . . ."
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 9:47AM
What IS the old saying ....?
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 10:15AM
Whoo hoo what a ride the last 12 mths have been down that Alpine slope !!!
UBS announced in April it would cut 5500 people total.
Of the 5500 how many people in IBD were to be cut??
Have they finished cuts in IBD or is there more bloodshed to come ???
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 5:53PM
Problem is, UBS have already cut most of the IB meat and are left with a fetid cesspool of middle management.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 8:20PM
UBS doesn't have budget for anything anymore, so more heads will roll. They've already given voluntary packages, involuntary walking papers and even forced a lot of consultants to apply for a few full-time jobs. The only people who are safe are the ones giving out refunds to its ARS victims.