Advertisement

ubs

Central bank says UBS rescue loan repaid

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Central bank says UBS rescue loan repaid
Photo: Swiss National Bank

The Swiss National Bank says that a massive loan to rescue UBS bank during the financial crisis has been paid off and Switzerland's largest bank can now repurchase its once toxic assets.

Advertisement

SNB said on Friday that its stabilization fund, or StabFund, had by Thursday completely paid off the last portion of a $25.8-billion loan issued in 2008 to save UBS, which was among the global banks hardest hit by the crisis.
   
The completion of the final payment of 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion) means that UBS will now be permitted to go ahead with its plan to repurchase once-toxic assets, central bank spokesman Walter Meier told AFP.
   
The price will be set by independent agents who will assess the current value of the assets, the central bank said in a statement.

UBS lost billions of dollars in the United States subprime home-loan crisis and the ensuing financial turmoil.

A collapse of the bank would have been catastrophic for the Swiss economy.
   
In a rescue operation, the central bank set up the StabFund to take over assets considered toxic worth $38.7 billion.
   
The central bank also pumped $3.9 billion into the bank, which UBS has repaid to ensure its right to repurchase its assets once the loan had been reimbursed.
   
When it published its results last month, UBS said it planned to take advantage of this repurchasing option in the final quarter of the year.

According to the agreement, the central bank will receive the first $1 billion of the remaining equity capital in the StabFund, while it will split the rest equally with UBS.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also