ZURICH (AFP)--Two of Switzerland's largest banks, UBS AG (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS), are set to announce combined losses for 2008 of 29 billion Swiss francs later this week, the Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday.
According to the report, UBS will announce an annual loss of CHF21 billion on Tuesday, the largest in Swiss history and reflecting the fact the company was one of the banks hardest hit by the U.S. subprime loan crisis.
Last November, UBS posted a net profit of CHF296 million for the third quarter following a year of losses, but warned that a renewed loss was looming for the following quarter.
Under a rescue plan unveiled in October, the Swiss government injected CHF6 billion in new capital to UBS and lent $54 billion to the bank to transfer its non-liquid assets into a separate fund.
The massive spread of so-called "toxic" assets - mainly linked to financial instruments now worth very little because of the U.S. home-loan crisis - throughout the global banking system is at the core of the crisis.
Sonntag also reported that UBS would announce "5,000 to 8,000 new job cuts" adding to an earlier decision to cut 9,000 positions.
A company spokesman told AFP on Jan. 22 that further cuts would be made in the bank's fixed income, currencies and commodities trading unit, without specifying the number to be made.
The German language daily also reported that Credit Suisse would announce a loss of CHF8 billion for 2008, although the bank isn't expected make any further job cuts.
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Publié le 08 Février 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones