Swiss Banking News: August 2006

15.08.2006 Today, 15 August 2006, UBS reported 3,147 million Swiss francs net profit attributable to UBS shareholders in the 2nd quarter of 2006. Last year UBS had 2,147 million Swiss francs in the same period. So, this is up up 47% from a year earlier.

14.08.2006 Today, 14 August 2006, UBS announced completing the acquisition of Piper Jaffray Companies' Private Client Services branch network. This transaction was initially announced on 11 April 2006. The price of the acquisition is 500 million USD plus possible additional cash consideration based upon retention levels.

14.08.2006 Inexplicable investment decisions made by some pension funds connected with banks Swissfirst and Bellevue are suspected of illegal insider trading. It is investigated why pension funds sold stock ahead of a merger between the 2 banks depriving themselves of substantial gains. The media suggests that fund managers at the 2 banks bought the stock for their personal accounts.

02.08.2006 Credit Suisse Group announced that its net profit in the 2nd quarter of 2006 more than doubled after the elimination of legal provisions that lowered results a year earlier. Switzerland's 2nd largest bank said net profit for the 3 months rose to 2.16 billion Swiss francs from 919 million francs in the 2nd quarter of 2005, when unexpected legal provisions weighed on profits. But the bank announced its plans to cut 300 jobs in the USA in its asset management division and take a 152 million franc charge to realign the business.

02.08.2006 Today, 2 August 2006, Credit Suisse Group reported net income of 4,762 million Swiss francs for the 1st half of 2006. Last year Credit Suisse Group had 2,829 million Swiss francs for the same period. Net income for the 2nd quarter of 2006 was 2,158 million Swiss francs, while last year Credit Suisse Group had 919 million Swiss francs for the same period. Banks's net new assets totaled 30.1 billion Swiss francs for the 2nd quarter of 2006.