Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #085

UBS reports 1Q net loss $11 billion

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss bank UBS, hard hit by the U.S. subprime crisis, reported a first-quarter loss of $10.97 billion and said Tuesday it will slash almost 7 percent of its work force.

The 11.5 billion Swiss franc loss compares with a net profit of 3 billion francs in the same period last year. The company also said it would unload $15 billion in subprime and other mortgage-based securities from its portfolio.

Emphasis added by me.

More:

UBS will trim another 2,900 jobs across the company, mostly through attrition, bringing the total number of posts cut by mid-2009 to 5,500 overall. UBS has more than 83,800 employees worldwide.

UBS has struggled to regain investor confidence since a string of heavy losses prompted shareholders to demand radical changes at the traditionally staid bank.

Shareholders last month voted in a new chairman and a capital increase of 15 billion francs ($14.9 billion) to distance UBS from historic losses. Earlier this year, UBS raised 13 billion francs after seeking help from a Singapore government fund and an unidentified Middle East investor.

Emphasis added by me.

Now that’s intriguing: an “unidentified Middle East investor.” Is UBS a public company? How can they not disclose that?

So, UBS has announced its layoffs.

When will CitiGroup announce its massive layoffs and branch closings?

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