UBS earns its biggest profit in three years

UBSUBS has reported its biggest profit in the past three years. The company earned a net profit of £734 million as compared to last year's £345m. Earlier the bank earned a net loss to £1.65b in 2008.

Earlier the bank forecasted an operating profit of Swiss Franc 2.5billion (£1.5 billion) for the last quarter of 2010. The improvement has been attributed to buoyancy witnessed in the investment bank's debt trading unit. The said unit earned revenue of £1.4 billion in the quarter. They said that the fall in client's withdrawal helped them boost profit.

A row over tax with the US Internal Revenue Commision affected the bank's reputation. Swiss law treats tax fraud and tax evasion, differently, therefore while it allows information share in case of tax fraud, it does not have the same provision in case of tax evasion. Such law stops the bank from sharing data on 4,450 clients that the US authority needs.

As per Oswald Gruyebel, Chief Executive of UBS, an impressive fixed income trading would help them heavy pre-tax profit for next three to five years.