UBS sees profit fall by almost a quarter

Swiss bank UBS says its net profit fell by almost half during the second quarter.

The Zurich-based bank says net profit attributable to shareholders fell to 1.02 billion Swiss francs compared with 2 billion francs in the April-June period of 2010.

Chief executive Oswald Gruebel said that returns had declined across the banking sector in the past twelve months due to increased capital requirements imposed on the industry. The bank was particularly hit by lower investment bank profits much of which are generated in London.

Gruebel said UBS won't achieve the pretax profit target of 6 billion Swiss frances which it set for itself in 2009.