Connect with us

AFP

UBS posts US$1.0 bn Q1 net profit, Credit Suisse takeover completion set for Q2

UBS expects to complete the takeover of Credit Suisse in Q2, as it reports a net profit of $1bn for Q1, down from US$2.1bn last year. Credit Suisse reported US$70bn being withdrawn in Q1, potentially its final results ahead of the merger.

Analysts had expected UBS’s Q1 net profit to be around US$1.7bn.

Published

1 year ago

on

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — UBS said Tuesday it would likely complete its takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse in the second quarter, as the bank posted an underwhelming first-quarter net profit of US$1.0 billion.

All eyes were on whether Switzerland’s biggest bank is strong enough to carry through its forced alliance with Credit Suisse.

Analysts polled by the Swiss financial newswire AWP expected UBS’s first-quarter net profit to tick in at around US$1.7 billion, down from US$2.1 billion a year ago.

Though it managed to rack up a US$1.0 billion net profit for the first three months of 2023, UBS said it had seen strong client inflows, as it prepared to integrate the country’s second-largest bank.

“Our solid underlying performance and strong inflows this quarter demonstrate that we continue to be a source of stability for our clients during periods of significant uncertainty,” returning chief executive Sergio Ermotti said in a statement.

“Our balance sheet for all seasons and a diversified and capital-generative business model allowed us to be part of the solution in a critical moment for the Swiss and global financial systems.”

Credit Suisse revealed Monday that nearly US$70 billion had been withdrawn from the bank in the first three months of 2023 alone, publishing perhaps its final quarterly results ahead of the merger.

Most of the withdrawals were made in panic around the 19 March announcement that UBS had been strongarmed by Swiss authorities into a US$3.25-billion shotgun marriage to ensure its smaller, but still “too-big-to-fail” rival, did not go bankrupt.

“We are focused on completing the acquisition of Credit Suisse, most likely in the second quarter of 2023,” UBS said.

“While acknowledging the magnitude of, and complexity associated with, the integration and restructuring of Credit Suisse, we believe that this combination presents a unique opportunity to bring significant, long-term value to all of our stakeholders.”

Credit Suisse on the slide

UBS chairman Colm Kelleher acknowledged during the bank’s annual general meeting earlier this month that the merger came with huge risks attached.

To ensure things go smoothly, the bank brought back former chief executive Ermotti, who left in 2020, to oversee the takeover.

The 62-year-old, silver-haired banker spent nine years at UBS’s helm, restoring its reputation after its bailout by the Swiss government and the central bank during the 2008 global financial crisis, as well as the US$2.3 billion in losses racked up by a rogue trader in 2011.

UBS has also created a special risk management post focused exclusively on the merger and said Monday that its current head of overall risk management would prolong his mandate to help usher through the extremely delicate operation.

Credit Suisse revealed Monday the desperate situation it found itself in when the takeover deal was pushed through, with its results clearly speaking to the challenges ahead for UBS.

The bank said it saw 61.2 billion Swiss francs (US$68.6 billion) withdrawn in the first quarter of 2023 alone, following on the heels of 110.5 billion Swiss francs in withdrawals in the fourth quarter of last year.

While Credit Suisse said those outflows had “moderated”, it acknowledged they “have not yet reversed”.

Credit Suisse reported deceptively-bloated net profits for the first quarter, which swelled to 12.4 billion Swiss francs (US$14 billion), up from a significant loss a year earlier.

But that was largely attributed to holders of high-risk Credit Suisse debt being wiped out in the emergency takeover deal.

It warned of “substantial” losses to come.

Credit Suisse hosted no press conference, so questions are “likely to be directed to UBS’s management” later Tuesday, Flora Bocahut, an analyst at the US investment bank Jefferies, said in a research note.

— AFP

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Published

1 year ago

on

26 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

Continue Reading

AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

Published

1 year ago

on

25 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

Continue Reading

Trending