I highly recommend that people pay attention to this, for one reason:
The Swiss have been very good at admitting to their losses and crap paper sooner than US banks have been, in both better estimates of how much of their portfolio is crap paper, and admitting it sooner, rather than trying to hide it.
The article is correct that UBS has already admitted to big losses early in this melt-down. This cost the top management of the bank their jobs (the Swiss banks are also intolerant of losses, and they don’t reward bankers who lose money - they FIRE them).
The fact that UBS is announcing another huge loss on their debt portfolio is a grim indication of what is to come for US banks. It took about another six months after UBS first announced their first round of crap paper before US banks started admitting “Uh, yea, we’ve got some issues...” So if the lead time holds true this time, in about three to five months, the US banks will be admitting a huge melt-down on their balance sheets too. Maybe sooner, since they have less room to lie about the crap any more, and there are so many more analysts and regulators looking over the situation than there were in the first round...
“...and there are so many more analysts and regulators looking over the situation than there were in the first round”
Sorry for being cynical, but once we eliminate mark to market, the banks will be back to cooking the books...until they are COMPLETELY depleted of assets.
I don’t know if I would say the Swiss have been good about admitting their losses. They are just doing it now. All this started back in October of last year.