On the heels of four straight quarterly losses, UBS AG is expecting to return a small third-quarter profit when its earnings are released Nov. 4, the bank’s chairman, Peter Kurer, said in a speech today during a shareholder meeting in Basel, Switzerland.
The improved performance of UBS is a result of the Zurich, Switzerland-based bank’s substantially reducing its exposure to troubled U.S. real estate investments by disposing of many of those assets, he said in his speech.
The Federal Reserve announced today an additional injection of cash into the global financial system to help combat the credit crisis.
The Fed is increasing its existing currency swaps with foreign central banks by $330 billion to $620 billion.
Participating central banks include the European Central Bank, the Swiss National Bank, and the Banks of Canada, England, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Australia.
The Fed also said that it is boosting its own auction facility for U.S. banking institutions to $75 billion per auction from $25 billion starting Oct. 6, with two additional auctions totaling $150 billion to be conducted in November.
Background: This month, we’ve focused on preparing for year-end client reviews to uncover and identify clients’ retirement assets. If you haven’t started, don’t miss an opportunity to talk with your clients right now during this time of financial uncertainty. Last week’s InvestmentNews webcast, What To Say To Clients Now (click “View the Archive”), in which I took part, covered several effective approaches to calling clients. Since study after study confirms that clients leave a practice due to lack of communication from their adviser, now is the time to take action and call.
