UBS reports nine-month profit doubled to $3.34 billion

(AP) -- Swiss banking giant UBS AG on Tuesday announced a net profit of SFr5.18 billion ($3.34 billion) for the first nine months of this year, nearly double the figure for the same period in 1998.

(AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS AG on Tuesday announced a net profit of SFr5.18 billion ($3.34 billion) for the first nine months of this year, nearly double the figure for the same period in 1998.

Last year’s nine-month profits of SFr2.6 billion (then $1.88 billion) were affected by a net third-quarter loss of SFr911 million ($660 million), largely caused by UBS’ exposure to troubled private U.S. investment fund Long Term Capital Management.

That loss led to the resignation in October last year of UBS chairman Mathis Cabiallavetta and the departure of three other top executives. UBS has said transactions like LTCM won’t recur.

UBS said its group assets under management grew by 2 percent to SFr1.6 trillion ($1.03 trillion) from last year.

Its profit this time was boosted by a strong performance from its Warburg Dillon Read investment bank, which posted pre-tax earnings of SFr2.08 billion ($1.34 billion), which compared with a SFr1.23 billion ($794 million) loss last year.

“Given the strength of the figures for the first three quarters, UBS is confident about the results for the full year,” the bank said in a statement.

It added that tests for the millennium computer bug, which concluded on schedule in September, cost SFr302 million ($194 million).