UBS

Investors see the rest of the world collapsing, and the yen & SF franc are no longer a safe haven.The Swiss franc has suffered from a weakening Swiss financial system and threats of intervention by the central bank to push the currency lower against the euro. More so one needs to be aware the obligations of the top three Swiss banks have debts greater than 8X the GDP of Switzerland.

Bob Bauman says the only Swiss banks in trouble are those that abandoned their traditional banking principles and “Americanized” their business. Thankfully, the vast majority retain the strict secrecy laws that will protect your privacy.

Two months ago, a U.S. District Court judge in Miami, Florida, authorized the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to go after information from Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS (NYSE:UBS). The Sovereign Society’s Bob Bauman says that, alhtough UBS may have hung its clients out to dry, the Swiss government is still prepared to stand up to U.S. lawmakers to protect private banks’ clients…

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), chaired by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), after a 6 month probe, has released a report which says that Swiss banking giant UBS AG and Lichtenstein based LGT Bank have aided and abetted wealthy Americans evade taxes, cover up ownership of accounts and hide assets.

The Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) wants UBS and Credit Suisse to raise an additional $68.3 billion in capital (70 billion Swiss francs - 40 for UBS, and 30 for Credit Suisse) to avoid problems due to the banks' subprime exposure, expected write-downs and losses.

The Department of Justice is asking the Court to allow the IRS to issue a summons to UBS AG demanding the names of wealthy U.S. clients who used the Swiss bank to keep 'undeclared accounts' in order to evade U.S. taxes.

Middle Eastern countries know their oil supplies aren’t going to last forever. So they’re pumping more than $2 trillion into new, long-term economic projects - such as brand new cities that will function as both business and vacation hot spots.

The stock market continued its losses on Tuesday after Fannie Mae, D.R. Horton Inc. and Swiss bank UBS reported quarterly losses. We also recorded a new record for crude oil, $121.49.

Andrew Corn of of Clear Indexes (CSD) believes that "Spin-Offs stand to become increasingly prevalent in the near future." Why? Because you can "Give a high growth unit the chance to reap the benefits of a high growth stock, shed a non-core business, or give investors the chance to buy into a specific industry without taking on other divisions."

UBS AG, already wincing from massive write-downs caused by the subprime crisis, has taken another blow as a former CEO is pushing the Swiss bank to separate its private client operations from the stumbling investment unit.

Stocks started off the second quarter with a rally on Tuesday as investors weighed a fresh round of mortgage-related write-offs at UBS and Deutsche Bank, two of the world’s largest financial institutions.

UBS AG, battered by the biggest writedowns from the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, reported a 12 billion-franc ($11.9 billion) first-quarter loss and said Chairman Marcel Ospel will step down.

Wall Street rallied Tuesday, the first day of the second quarter, on news that two banks slammed by the credit crisis are working to raise cash and that U.S. manufacturing is faring better than expected. The Dow Jones industrial average soared more than 220 points.

UBS has significantly increased its estimate of huge fourth-quarter losses from the American sub-prime mortgage crisis, further increasing the pressure on Marcel Ospel, its chairman.