UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) reported Tuesday that the Swiss bank posted a profit in its fiscal fourth quarter, citing an increase due to a tax credit, according to Associated Press.
The company beat analysts' expectations, but earnings suffered as wealthy clients withdrew more money.
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The bank posted a fourth-quarter profit of 1.205 billion Swiss francs ($1.12 billion), compared to a loss of 9.58 billion francs in the fourth quarter.
The quarterly profit comes after three consecutive quarterly losses in 2009 and is a great step to improving the company’s reputation after bad investments during the financial crisis.
The bank cut staff numbers by 16 percent last year to just over 65,000, helping to drop fixed costs by 20.2 billion francs.
However, net new money remained negative during the fourth quarter. Outflows amounted to 56.2 billion francs, with more than half coming from its Wealth Management and Swiss Bank division.
All of the bank's four business units made a pretax profit during the quarter, including its closely watched investment bank, which recorded a profit of 297 million francs.
The investment bank was responsible for the majority of UBS's massive losses during the credit crisis, leading some in Switzerland to call for it to be spun off or sold.
UBS said it expects the investment bank's performance to further improve in 2010. For the full year, the bank posted a net loss of 2.74 billion, down from 21.29 billion in 2008.
UBS is proposing no dividend to its shareholders.
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