FT Alphaville » UBS http://ftalphaville.ft.com FT Alphaville - Market Commentary - FT.com Wed, 22 May 2013 19:04:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The great Aussie bank share price bubble http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/02/1484222/reintroducing-the-great-aussie-bank-bubble/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/02/1484222/reintroducing-the-great-aussie-bank-bubble/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 23:57:42 +0000 Neil Hume http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1484222 Via UBS:

The Aussie banks are very good companies. They are profitable, resilient, well capitalised, well managed, shareholder focused and have a very strong industry and regulatory structure. However, following the significant leveraging of the Australian & NZ households over the last thirty years they are now low growth and remain heavily exposed to housing, funding markets & unemployment risk.

Continue reading: The great Aussie bank share price bubble]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/02/1484222/reintroducing-the-great-aussie-bank-bubble/feed/ 0 Some backing for the UBS bonus model http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/03/21/1434282/some-backing-for-the-ubs-bonus-model/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/03/21/1434282/some-backing-for-the-ubs-bonus-model/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:00:15 +0000 Paul Murphy http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1434282 René Stulz and other academics members of the avowedly non-partisan Squam Lake Group have come out with an update of their well-received 2010 paper on fixing finance, post the crisis. Click below to read their fresh thoughts on banker pay and the knotty problem of properly aligning incentives.

Continue reading: Some backing for the UBS bonus model]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/03/21/1434282/some-backing-for-the-ubs-bonus-model/feed/ 0 UBS bonuses go bail-inable http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/02/05/1371652/ubs-bonuses-go-bail-inable/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/02/05/1371652/ubs-bonuses-go-bail-inable/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:01:01 +0000 Kate Mackenzie http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1371652 UBS reported a fourth quarter loss of CHF1.2bn — actually CHF1.9bn, when considering Libor fines and other regulatory and legal costs, plus restructuring costs. The loss came in a little lower than the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The full monstrous PDF is here, but meanwhile, we note the FT’s Daniel Schäfer scooped an interesting change to the bank’s bonus policy for its 6,500 highest earners:

Continue reading: UBS bonuses go bail-inable]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/02/05/1371652/ubs-bonuses-go-bail-inable/feed/ 0 RBS in for another round of bonus awkwardness, with added Libor angle http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/29/1358812/rbs-in-for-another-round-of-bonus-awkwardness-with-added-libor-angle/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/29/1358812/rbs-in-for-another-round-of-bonus-awkwardness-with-added-libor-angle/#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:00:59 +0000 Kate Mackenzie http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1358812 Soon, it appears, we’ll have another big Libor settlement to write about — this one from RBS. Both the FT and the WSJ are tipping the fines to be in the order of £500m. The FT says it could be more than £400m to the US authorities and about £100m to the FSA; the WSJ doesn’t mention how it might breakdown between the US and UK, but says the settlement “could be completed within the next two weeks”.

Also, yikes! RBS (or specifically, an Asian unit of RBS) might have to plead guilty to some criminal charges if the US prosecutors have their way, says the WSJ.

Shockingly RBS does not like this. But… RBS may not have any choice:

Continue reading: RBS in for another round of bonus awkwardness, with added Libor angle]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/29/1358812/rbs-in-for-another-round-of-bonus-awkwardness-with-added-libor-angle/feed/ 0 ‘A mercenary UBS with no culture’, apparently http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/10/1330823/a-mercenary-ubs-with-no-culture-apparently/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/10/1330823/a-mercenary-ubs-with-no-culture-apparently/#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:25:54 +0000 Masa Serdarevic http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1330823 If you wanted to see a group of British MPs not really getting why a group of former UBS execs didn’t get that a Libor scandal was raging under their watch, the only place to be was the Thatcher Room in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Continue reading: ‘A mercenary UBS with no culture’, apparently]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/01/10/1330823/a-mercenary-ubs-with-no-culture-apparently/feed/ 0 The three ‘muscateers’, captain ‘caos’ and SUPERMAN Assemble (at UBS) http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313662/the-three-muscateers-captain-caos-and-superman-assemble-at-ubs/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313662/the-three-muscateers-captain-caos-and-superman-assemble-at-ubs/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:32:17 +0000 Lisa Pollack http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1313662 The competition is on! Sure, UBS is already ahead of Barclays in the FSA fine stakes, but will the inevitable embarrassing communiques beat “done for you, big boy”? Opening gambit from the FSA’s Final Notice to UBS on Wednesday morning (emphasis ours):

For example, on 18 September 2008, a Trader explained to a Broker: “if you keep 6s [i.e. the six month JPY LIBOR rate] unchanged today … I will f[**]king do one humongous deal with you …

Continue reading: The three ‘muscateers’, captain ‘caos’ and SUPERMAN Assemble (at UBS)]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313662/the-three-muscateers-captain-caos-and-superman-assemble-at-ubs/feed/ 0 Some colour on UBS’ ‘unquantifiable’ Libor misconduct [updated] http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313552/some-colour-on-ubs-unquantifiable-libor-misconduct/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313552/some-colour-on-ubs-unquantifiable-libor-misconduct/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:17:08 +0000 Kate Mackenzie http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1313552 The FSA’s component of the UBS settlement relating to Libor and Euribor was £160m — the largest fine it has ever imposed.

The UK financial regulator made some revealing comments on the Swiss group’s transgressions, which it says “involved a significant number of employees and occurred over a period of years in a number of countries”:

Continue reading: Some colour on UBS’ ‘unquantifiable’ Libor misconduct [updated]]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313552/some-colour-on-ubs-unquantifiable-libor-misconduct/feed/ 0 UBS pays up http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313392/ubs-pays-up/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313392/ubs-pays-up/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2012 06:48:38 +0000 Kate Mackenzie http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1313392 UBS will pay a total of CHF1.4bn ($1.5bn) — or, more than three Barclays — in fines and profit disgorgements related to Libor and Euribor claims. The payments will go to US, UK and Swiss regulators. The bank has also warned of losses totalling about CHF2 to 2.5bn for the fourth quarter, largely due to the settlements and provisioning, although CHF500m related to its restructuring.

Here is the statement:

Continue reading: UBS pays up]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/19/1313392/ubs-pays-up/feed/ 0 ‘That’ll be two Barclays please’ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/13/1308452/thatll-be-two-barclays-please/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/13/1308452/thatll-be-two-barclays-please/#comments Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:21:46 +0000 FT Alphaville http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1308452 It might not be made public until Monday but the FT reports a fine above $1bn could be landing on UBS’s doorstep to settle allegations of Libor manipulation. Driven largely, it appears, by CFTC and DoJ penalties.

That’s more than double the Barclays record set in June…

Continue reading: ‘That’ll be two Barclays please’]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/13/1308452/thatll-be-two-barclays-please/feed/ 0 ‘Negative’ has such unfairly negative connotations http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/11/1305282/negative-has-such-unfairly-negative-connotations/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/11/1305282/negative-has-such-unfairly-negative-connotations/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:36:27 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1305282 Dear people,

ATTENTION:

Continue reading: ‘Negative’ has such unfairly negative connotations]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/12/11/1305282/negative-has-such-unfairly-negative-connotations/feed/ 0