Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UBS will get $35 billion in help from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) through the stabilization fund (SNB StabFund) established in October 2008 rather than the $60 b figure given at the time. The SNB refers to greater financial stability in its Tuesday 10 February press release, “Developments since then have shown that, from a financial stability perspective, certain financial instruments will not need to be transferred to the fund.” The total amount in the StabFund will be $39.1 b, with UBS responsible for the cost of transferring 10% of the assets into the fund.
The stability mentioned by the SNB is linked to a change in accounting standards made in mid-October 2008 that now allows some assets, including student loans, to be reclassified as loans and receivables. As a result they do not have to be valued at market prices. The SNB notes that the bank will only take an “impairment charge” if there are permanent doubts that loans will be repaid.
The news comes as UBS announces a 2008 loss of CHF20 billion, including a fourth quarter loss of CHF8 b, the largest in Swiss corporate history according to the Financial Times.
News story, GenevaLunch, 10 February 2009.
Filed under: Business
Tags: bailout, Business and finance, SNB, StabFund, stabilisation fund, Swiss banks, Swiss business, Swiss companies, UBS
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4 Responses to “Swiss National Bank reduces UBS bailout money”
May 15th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
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