Investment bank Credit Suisse has named DBS Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB) among its top stock picks on the Asian banking scene.

Credit Suisse says factors that favour Asian banks include a negligible sub-prime exposure and less reliance on capital market- related income.

In a report, its analysts say they are positive on South-east Asian economies like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, adding that Asian banks now deserve a premium compared with their Western counterparts.

Also, an ‘outperform’ was issued on DBS and UOB with price targets of $28 each.

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(LONDON) Swiss bank UBS closed proprietary credit trading desks in London and Asia last week but kept a Connecticut desk open, sources said yesterday.

The group affected by the cuts is called the Global Credit Strategies Team with around 10 jobs cut in London after trading losses of 100 million euros (S$212 million), the sources said. UBS declined to comment.

The Swiss bank announced its first quarterly loss in five years last month after taking charges of 4.4 billion Swiss francs (S$5.67 billion) on exposures linked to US sub-prime mortgages.

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(ZURICH) Credit Suisse said yesterday that third-quarter profit at its investment bank was all but wiped out by writedowns, leading to a 31 per cent fall in group net earnings to 1.3 billion Swiss francs (S$1.63 billion).

Investment banking income was hit by writedowns of over 2.2 billion Swiss francs in leveraged loan commitments, residential mortgages and collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). The division barely broke even.

The results, boosted at group level by a tax credit and revaluations of bond holdings, sent the bank’s share price lower.

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First quarterly loss in 5 years, investment bank unlikely to break even in Q4.

(ZURICH) UBS AG reported a higher-than-expected third-quarter loss after hefty writedowns on sub-prime-related investments, but said it expects to turn in a group profit in the last quarter.

Mr Rohner: ‘We are taking steps to strengthen our market risk management.’

The Swiss bank, which took charges of 4.2 billion Swiss francs (S$5.22 billion) on sub-prime-related losses in fixed income in the third quarter, said yesterday its investment bank was unlikely to break even in the final quarter.

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Fallout has cost securities firms and banks more than US$30 billion in Q3.

(ZURICH) Swiss bank UBS said on Sunday that the slumping US housing market may lead to further writedowns on debt securities following the company’s first quarterly loss in almost five years.

UBS is still at risk from ‘further deterioration in the US housing and mortgage markets as well as rating downgrades’ on mortgage-related securities, the bank said yesterday in a Business Wire statement.

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