Barclays & UBS first-quarter results

Barclays Plc, trying to stanch an exodus of senior dealmakers, posted a bigger-than-estimated drop in first-quarter profit as a decline in revenue from trading bonds, currencies and commodities cut earnings from the investment bank by 49 per cent. Pretax profit, excluding swings in the valuation of the lender's debt, fell 5 per cent to £1.69 billion ($2.9 billion), missing the £1.82-billion estimate of analysts provided by the bank, Barclays said. Net income rose 15 per cent to £965 million pounds in the quarter.

UBS posts higher profit

UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, reported first-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates and said it plans a special payout for investors. The shares rose. Net income climbed 6.7 per cent from a year earlier to 1.05 billion Swiss francs ($1.2 billion), the Zurich-based bank said in a statement on Tuesday.