UBS warns of further customer losses

ZURICH: UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank by assets, will see further withdrawals by wealthy clients after reporting a third consecutive quarterly loss, Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel said.

UBS fell as much as 6.6 percent in Zurich trading as Gruebel said a halt in redemptions at the wealth management unit will probably lag behind a financial turnaround at the bank. Customers withdrew a net 22.3 billion Swiss francs ($21 billion) in the second quarter, a fifth straight period of redemptions.

"In international net new money we're unlikely to see a quick reversal of the trend," Gruebel said at a press conference yesterday in Zurich. Outflows may persist after UBS lost client advisers and as regulatory pressures reduce growth prospects for wealth management, he said. The market as a whole "will see less growth in European offshore private banking for the foreseeable future."