UBS’ Confession

UBS UBS AG together with Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are the top three losers of the US subprime mortgage crisis, together they wrote down US$106 billion to date.

During UBS’ annual meeting on Wednesday April 23rd in Basel, shareholders were asking just one question: How did UBS manage to lose $37 billion betting on American mortgage-backed assets, battering its core capital and share price in the process?

The UBS internal investigation report on the write-downs gives three broad explanations for the bank’s woes. The investment-banking arm’s preoccupation with growth, the reliance of the control team on flawed measures of risk, and the culture of the bank. A more detailed explanation on all three causes can be found here. The credit squeeze is graphically explained by the Financial Times here and by the BBC here.

Sphere: Related Content

1 Response to “UBS’ Confession”


  1. 1 » UBS’ Confession

Leave a Reply