<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">The 900 job cuts recently announced at UBS and Credit Suisse could be just the beginning as Switzerland’s banks face massive belt-tightening across the board, a prominent Swiss banker says.</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;" lang="DE"><span style="font-size: small;">Swiss cities Zürich and Geneva remain second and third in a UBS global cost of living ranking, while Oslo in Norway is the most expensive city in which to live.</span></span></p>
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<p>A US housing regulator filed a $900 million lawsuit against Swiss bank UBS on Wednesday over risky mortgage-backed securities it sold to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.</p>
<p>Swiss banking giant UBS said Tuesday that its second quarter profits plunged 49 percent compared to a year ago as a strong Swiss franc bit into earnings and revenues slumped on economic uncertainty.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Swiss banking giant UBS said on Friday it</span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> intends to appoint former German central bank chief Axel Weber as its next </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">chairman, saying that he will be nominated to the board in 2012 and take the </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">post in 2013.</span></p>
<p>Banking giant UBS said on Thursday it had acquired Dutch bank ING's Australian investment banking unit for an undisclosed sum, a move which would help boost the Swiss bank's presence in the region.</p>
<p>Swiss legislators have moved to drastically toughen capital requirements on big banks Credit Suisse and UBS amid concerns their failure in a crisis could drag down the Alpine country's economy.</p>
<p>French authorities have opened a preliminary probe into the business practices of Swiss banking giant UBS, a judicial source said Wednesday.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Swiss banking giant UBS said Tuesday that its net profit fell 18 percent to 1.8 billion francs ($2 billion) in the first quarter, hurt by a tax charge and higher personnel costs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse;">US investigators on Tuesday lodged a legal complaint against a Credit Suisse banker for fraud while working for UBS, a week after indicting four of his colleagues.</span></p>