UBS has reported the largest ever Q4 loss for a bank and its first yearly decline in a decade after the European giant was forced to writedown $13.7bn in US sub-prime debt.
The Swiss bank recorded a SwFr 4.38bn loss for the full-year 2007 and a staggering SwFr 12.48bn loss in Q4. Its loss is even more pronounced when considering UBS hit a net profit record in the first six months of last year, SwFr 8.9bn. UBS CEO Marcel Rohner says 2007 was “one of the most difficult” years in the firm’s history. “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,” ...
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