The Swiss bank UBS came first profit since Oswald Gryubel assumed leadership of the company a year ago. Net profit for the financial institution for the fourth quarter of 2009 amounted to 1.205 billion Swiss francs (1.1 billion), Reuters reported. This is a significant improvement compared to the same period in 2008 when the bank had a loss of 9.58 billion francs. The improvement is partly due to a tax credit of 480 million Swiss francs, and the reduction of bonuses. However, under pressure from the continuing effects of the global financial crisis led to tax evasion cases in the United States and pressure from other countries for violation of banking secrecy to disclosure of tax crimes, UBS continues to lose the trust of its customers. “We are sure that the measures we took for withdrawal of capital from the bank’s clients are effective, but in the immediate future we expect to continue to draw,” says Oswald Gryubel CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors Vilidzhar Kasper in a letter to investors.
The Customers of UBS have pulled 56 billion francs in the fourth quarter compared to 37 billion francs in the previous quarter. Withdrawal of funds from the financial institution became reality after the campaigns in different countries, including the United States seeking assistance from the Swiss banks to obtain data on their customers for disclosure of tax crimes. However, the management of UBS commented that the Swiss government hopes to find “alternative mechanisms” and compromise with the tax and in particular those in the U.S..