UBS predicts difficult litigation environment for banking sector

Despite trebling its dividend, Swiss bank UBS has strengthened its legal provisions again and predicted a legal and regulatory environment which will continue to be challenging 'for the foreseeable future'.

UBS sets aside further legal provisions Pincasso

Switzerland's largest lender has set aside another US$163m on legal provisions in its Q4 results, down slightly on the $172m it provisioned on legal in Q3. In a statement, it warned that further litigation and penalties are likely. It said: 'At this point in time, we believe that the industry continues to operate in an environment where charges associated with litigation, regulatory and similar matters will remain elevated for the foreseeable future and we continue to be exposed to a number of significant claims and regulatory matters.' Only this week, the use of the Swiss arm of HSBC to enable tax avoidance and evasion made action more likely against that bank. Source: Financial Times

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