UBS profit may trail US peers on litigation reserves

The Zurich-based lender is the first of Europe's big global banks to report fourth-quarter earnings

UBS Group AG may this week report earnings that trailed US peers as litigation charges continue to weigh on Europe’s lenders and their retreat from debt trading limits the boost from higher interest rates.

Switzerland’s largest bank will probably report a 21 per cent increase in pretax profit in the fourth quarter to 282 million francs ($282 million), according to George Karamanos, a London-based analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. That compares with a 64 per cent average gain reported this month by five Wall Street peers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which saw pretax profit spike 217 per cent. UBS’s