UBS reports $1.8 bn Q1 loss

Swiss banking major UBS has posted a first quarter loss of 2 billion Swiss Francs (about $1.77 billion) and has warned of economic turmoil negatively impacting its credit-related provisioning in the coming months.

For the three months ended March 31, 2009, the company has losses to the tune of 2 billion Swiss Francs whereas in the year-ago period, the same stood at 11.62 billion Swiss Francs, the entity said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Losses driven primarily by risk positions in businesses now exited or in the process of being exited by the Investment Bank," it said.

Even though there has been an improvement in market sentiment during the first quarter, the Swiss bank said the credit markets improved only partly and trading in complex financial products remains illiquid.

". . . the real economy has continued to deteriorate, and this is expected to have negative implications for credit-related provisioning in coming quarters," the bank said.

The firm has been one of the worst hit in the ongoing global financial turmoil and had even announced significant job cuts to bring down costs. Further, the entity is fighting a legal battle in the US related to charges of helping Americans in tax evasion.