AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.02%)
AIRLINK 127.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.95 (-0.74%)
BOP 6.67 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.06%)
CNERGY 4.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.96%)
DCL 8.55 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.83%)
DFML 41.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.1%)
DGKC 86.85 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (0.31%)
FCCL 32.28 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.44%)
FFBL 64.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.62 (-0.95%)
FFL 10.25 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUBC 109.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.83%)
HUMNL 14.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.47%)
KEL 5.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.56%)
KOSM 7.46 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (4.78%)
MLCF 41.38 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.65%)
NBP 60.41 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (0.53%)
OGDC 190.10 Decreased By ▼ -4.59 (-2.36%)
PAEL 27.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.43%)
PIBTL 7.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-2.13%)
PPL 150.06 Decreased By ▼ -1.11 (-0.73%)
PRL 26.88 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PTC 16.07 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.44%)
SEARL 86.00 Increased By ▲ 7.80 (9.97%)
TELE 7.71 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (4.33%)
TOMCL 35.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.73%)
TPLP 8.12 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.65%)
TREET 16.41 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (3.27%)
TRG 53.29 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (1%)
UNITY 26.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.47%)
WTL 1.26 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.79%)
BR100 9,884 Decreased By -36.4 (-0.37%)
BR30 30,600 Decreased By -151.5 (-0.49%)
KSE100 93,355 Increased By 130.9 (0.14%)
KSE30 28,931 Increased By 46 (0.16%)

Swiss banking giant UBS on Friday warned of a "difficult" year ahead after losing 10 billion dollars (6.8 billion euros) in the US subprime mortgage crisis. "The problems that the financial industry faces have not evaporated with the turn of the year ... 2008 is likely to be another generally difficult year," the bank said in a letter to shareholders.
UBS in December turned to Singapore's state investment arm (GIC) and an unnamed Middle Eastern investor to help restore its balance sheet, which had been badly hit by losses in the US mortgage crisis.
GIC said it would inject 11 billion Swiss francs into UBS, giving it a stake of around nine percent and thus making it the largest single shareholder, while the Middle Eastern investor was to put up two billion Swiss francs. The bank said it was a "valuable demonstration of confidence to bring in highly reputable, stable, long-term financial investors."
Some shareholders have voiced unhappiness with the plans to raise funds from foreign, state-controlled investment authorities, fearing the terms of the deal put existing investors at a disadvantage. UBS warned that the full impact of the subprime crisis had yet to be felt.
"We cannot, at this time, accurately predict the future development of US residential mortgage markets and therefore the ultimate impact on our positions in subprime mortgage related securities," the bank said. However it said that "appropriate lessons have been drawn" from the turbulence in terms of personnel and systems. "UBS will become a stronger firm as a result of these changes," the bank pledged.
Earlier this week, CEO Marcel Rohner rejected any hiving off of UBS's investment banking arm, primarily responsible for its subprime exposure, saying the unit "lies at the heart" of the bank's activities.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

Comments

Comments are closed.