Thursday, February 14, 2008

Swiss bank UBS reports huge loss after subprime debacle

Swiss banking giant UBS plunged to its first-ever full-year net loss on Thursday after losing 18 billion dollars in the US subprime mortgage crisis.

Bank chairman Marcel Rohner said the losses were "unacceptable".

UBS revealed a net loss of 4.4 billion Swiss francs (4.0 billion dollars, 2.7 billion euros) in 2007, compared to a profit of 12.3 billion Swiss francs in 2006.

"We are obliged to confirm these unacceptable results," the bank's chief executive officer Marcel Rohner told a telephone conference.

"While most of our businesses continued to be very profitable, the sudden and serious deterioration in the US housing market, in combination with our large exposure in sub-prime mortgage-related securities and derivatives, has driven us into loss for the year," he said.

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