Swiss Banking News: October 2006
16.10.2006 On 13 October 2006, Switzerland's top data-protection official, Hanspeter Thur, said that Swiss banks had broken data protection laws by providing banking information to American counter-terrorism officials. The banks should have followed safeguarding privacy and, accordingly, should have informed customers who use the Swift money-transfer service that their data could be passed on to 3rd parties. However, the banks did not inform their clients that information was being transferred to the US authorities.
20.10.2006 Credit Suisse has produced an economic survey in cooperation with the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). In accordance with the survey, the assessment of the financial market experts concerning the current situation of the economy not only improved, but also reached the highest level since the launch of the survey. The Credit Suisse ZEW indicator for expectations regarding the economic outlook fell to -14.1 points. Fewer participants of the survey expect rising inflationary pressure, and just 7% expect a further depreciation of the Swiss Franc versus the Euro, notwithstanding the Swiss franc has lost significant terrain versus it in recent months. The survey revealed a decline in the number of participants anticipating a further interest-rate increase by the Swiss National Bank.
31.10.2006 Today, 31 October 2006, UBS reported 3rd quarter result of 2,199 million Swiss francs for net profit attributable to its shareholders, which down 21% from a year before. Financial businesses contributed 2,114 million Swiss francs to attributable profit from continuing operations, which down 16% from the same period a year before. Also, the bank reported overall net new money at very healthy 41.9 billion Swiss francs in 3rd quarter, with CHF 26.8 billion inflow from wealth management businesses worldwide.
Notable transactions of UBS were related to advising Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), the world's leading iron ore miner on its acquisition of Canadian-based nickel company Inco. In leveraged finance, UBS participated in a number of major capital market transactions that included the offering for Anadarko Petroleum in its acquisition of Kerr-McGee Corporation and Western Gas, and Blackstone's acquisition of Travelport.
