UBS set to announce historic loss

ZURICH: Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, is expected to announce the biggest loss in the country's history when it releases Tuesday its results for 2008, a year that saw the national icon tarnished by the subprime crisis.

But if there is a silver lining for the bank, which has been the target of a huge state rescue package, it lies in the fact that analysts say UBS has now hit bottom after its stock price fell 82 per cent since the summer of 2007.

For that reason, the loss of nearly 20 billion Swiss francs USD 17.2 billion the bank is expected to announce for 2008 on Tuesday should not surprise markets, analysts say.

"The bank has already publicised its problems to a large degree and the fall in the stock price should not be so large," said a trader in Zurich.

Last November, UBS posted a net profit of 296 million Swiss francs for the third quarter following a year of losses, but warned that a renewed loss was looming for the following quarter.

The numbers expected to be unveiled Tuesday are staggering, reflecting the fact that UBS was one of the banks hardest hit by the US subprime loan crisis.

Its annual net loss is believed to be between 14.1 and 19.4 billion Swiss francs, according to estimates from Swiss financial news agency AWP.