Good news, but not too much, for Ubs. The Swiss banking group closes 2011 with a gross profit of 5,5 billion Swiss francs and net income of 4,2 billion. The figure, although positive from a general point of view, signals a 76% drop from 2010 income. Despite these less than brilliant results, for the first time since 2006, the Swiss bank will distribute unit dividends per 10 Swiss cents.
In detail, Ubs scored one loss in the last quarter of 2011 of 393 million, much lower than in the same quarter of the previous year (1,66 billion) and in any case lower than analysts' expectations, which indicated a loss of 721 million francs.
The investment bank division, the most exposed to the current European crisis, weighed heavily on the result: a sudden change of top management, following the detection of various accounting irregularities, led to the company management Sergio Ermotti, who is implementing a plan downsizing of the entire investment sector.
