UBS gains, Principal plummets

Earnings for Principal should have read: "Principal suffered realized and unrealized losses of $41 million tied to New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in mid-September and $41.2 million linked to Seattle-based Washington Mutual, which was recently acquired by New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. In the original version, the amounts were in billions. UBS AG reported today a third-quarter net profit of 296 million Swiss francs ($252 million) after losing 858 million francs in the year-ago period. The improved performance was due in large part to UBS’ move to reduce exposure to troubled U.S. real estate assets by nearly 50% during the third quarter. However, the Zurich, Switzerland-based bank was still affected by the credit crunch, with 5.1 billion francs ($4.4 billion) of write-downs incurred during the quarter, largely in U.S. mortgage-backed assets. UBS’s wealth management business also suffered quarterly net outflows of 49.3 billion francs ($42.4 billion). UBS officials project that fourth-quarter results will be negatively affected by a possible reversal of its own credit gains. UBS also expects to incur losses from the sale of up to $60 billion of illiquid securities and other assets from its balance sheet to the Swiss National Bank. The sale was announced Oct. 16 (InvestmentNews, Oct. 16). Principal Financial Group Inc. reported yesterday that third-quarter profit fell 61% after declaring substantial investment losses. The Des Moines-based financial services company’s net income was $90.1 million, or 35 cents a share, down from $232.3 million, or 87 cents a share, a year earlier. Principal suffered realized and unrealized losses of $41 million tied to New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in mid-September (InvestmentNews, Sept. 15) and $41.2 million linked to Seattle-based Washington Mutual, which was recently acquired by New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. (InvestmentNews, Sept. 25). Assets under management at the end of the third quarter fell 6% from a year earlier to $287.4 million.