UBS posts Swiss franc 20.9-bn loss, remains 'extremely cautious'

UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, posted a 20.9 billion Swiss franc ($18 billion) loss for 2008, more than initially reported, and said it remains “extremely cautious” about the outlook for this year.

The full-year net loss widened by 1.19 billion francs from the figure reported on February 10 because of costs to settle a US tax investigation and additional writedowns on securities, the Zurich-based bank said in its annual report, published today. UBS fell as much as 3.9 percent in Swiss trading.

UBS agreed on February 18 to pay $780 million and disclose the names of about 300 secret account holders to avoid US criminal prosecution on a charge that it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes. The bank also marked down securities that haven’t yet been transferred to the Swiss National Bank’s fund as part of a government aid package following record losses.

“Our near-term outlook remains extremely cautious,” Chairman Peter Kurer and Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel said in a letter to shareholders.

UBS hired Gruebel, the former head of rival Credit Suisse Group AG, last month to replace Marcel Rohner as CEO to restore investor confidence. Last week, the bank nominated Kaspar Villiger, a former Swiss finance minister, as a new chairman of its board of directors, replacing Kurer.

UBS fell 18 centimes, or 1.8 percent, to 9.61 francs by 9:37 a.m. in Zurich. The shares are down 35 percent so far this year, compared with a 33 percent decline in the 65-company Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index.

Cutting Risks, Costs
The 2008 loss is the biggest in Switzerland’s history. UBS amassed more than $50 billion in writedowns and losses since the beginning of the financial crisis, forcing it to raise more than $32 billion in capital from investors, including the Swiss government, and cut 11,000 jobs.

Financial institutions worldwide have reported $1.2 trillion of losses and shed more than 284,000 jobs since the U.S. subprime mortgage market collapsed, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The US, Britain, France and Germany are among nations that injected billions into banks to prevent a wider financial calamity following the September collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

UBS plans to further cut risks, reduce assets on the balance sheet and lower costs this year to return the bank “as soon as possible to a sustainable level of overall profitability,” Kurer and Gruebel’s letter said. While reporting earnings on February 10, Rohner said the bank would have a profit in 2009.

Rohner, who was the highest-paid member of the executive board last year, received total compensation of 1.8 million francs. Kurer’s compensation was 1.57 million francs, UBS said.