UBS counts the cost of subprime after 'annus horribilis'

ZURICH - Swiss banking giant UBS will unveil its second quarter results Tuesday still scarred from its subprime-related ''annus horribilis'' and the loss of billions of dollars -- and wealthy clients. Nearly a year to the day after it first revealed it had some exposure to the crisis in the US housing mortgage sector -- and after posting writedowns worth a phenomenal 37 billion dollars -- UBS will attempt to assure investors the worst is finally behind it. The results will be sweetened somewhat by an unexpected three billion Swiss francs in tax credits, with analysts expecting results to be either flat or slightly negative, after three consecutive quarters deep in the red. The tax credit will offset a further wave of writedowns expected between 4.7-5.6 billion dollars. All eyes will be on the bank's key wealth management... [read full story]