National Bank to keep UBS toxic assets fund
The Swiss National Bank has no intention at present of selling back to UBS the toxic assets it bought as part of a rescue plan last year, a top SNB official says.
The SNB last October announced the creation of a holding fund to absorb up to $60 billion worth of UBS’s so-called toxic holdings – assets whose value had fallen so sharply that they could not longer expect to be sold.
UBS has recently let it be known that it was interested in reacquiring the assets, but Thomas Jordan, deputy chairman designate of the SNB, told Swiss public radio that the SNB would continue to administer and liquidate the holding fund “according to plan”.
He said the reduction of risks would continue. The risks currently stand at $25.5 billion, down from $35 billion when the fund was set up.
He put at 50 per cent the likelihood that the rescue operation would end in a loss for the SNB.
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