First the good news: UBS produced a better-than-expected SFr1.2bn profit in its fourth quarter, the Swiss bank's first since Oswald Grübel became chief executive a year ago. The turnround pared UBS's full-year loss to SFr2.7bn – from 2008's record SFr21.3bn loss – marking an early victory for Mr Grübel's cost reduction plan, although a one-off tax credit and reduced charges on UBS's own debt also helped. Now the bad news: outflows from the group's wealth management and Swiss banking operations nearly doubled to SFr33bn compared with the previous quarter, and SFr12bn leaked from its US wealth business. Mr Grübel hopes a return to sustainable profitability will restore clients' confidence. Yet wielding the scalpel might prove to have been the easiest part of creating “the new UBS”. Stemming the haemorrhage of rich clients might be harder to achieve.
先說好消息：瑞銀(UBS)第四季度業績優于預期，實現凈利潤12億瑞郎，這是首席執行官郭儒博(Oswald Grübel)上任一年來瑞銀首度盈利。這一逆轉使瑞銀全年虧損額從2008年創記錄的213億瑞郎，收窄至27億瑞郎，標志著郭儒博削減成本的計劃初戰告捷，盡管一次性稅收抵免和對瑞銀自身債務計提的會計費用減少也在其中起到了作用。現在說說壞消息：瑞銀財富管理部門和瑞士銀行業務的資金流出較上一季度幾乎增加了一倍，達到330億瑞郎，美國理財業務的資金流出也達到120億瑞郎。郭儒博希望，隨著銀行恢復可持續的盈利，客戶能夠重新樹立信心。然而，大刀闊斧地削減成本或許是打造“新瑞銀”過程中最容易的事情。遏止有錢客戶的流失可能難度更大。