swiss bank

The U.S. Justice Department called Switzerland's largest private bank a fugitive from justice on Friday after it didn't send any representatives to a court hearing in New York, where it has been charged with conspired with American clients to hide $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service.

Scandal-hit Swiss bank UBS AG reported Tuesday a 39 percent drop in third-quarter profit, slightly less than feared, due to a rogue trading loss in September that has thrown Switzerland's largest bank further into turmoil.

Embattled Swiss bank UBS said on Tuesday it expects to report a modest net profit for the third quarter after a rogue trading scandal.

In this file photo of July 26, 2011, Oswald Gruebel, CEO of Swiss Bank UBS, speaks during a news conference announcing the second quarter results of 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland.

A Singapore state investment fund that is the biggest UBS shareholder said it is disappointed and concerned with lapses at the Swiss bank that led to a $2.3 billion rogue trading loss.

UBS kicked off an internal investigation into the catastrophic failure of its risk systems after rogue equity trades cost the Swiss bank $2.3 billion, raising the pressure on top management.

Swiss bank UBS AG on Tuesday posted its first annual profit since the global financial crisis erupted, despite softer-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, and said it had managed to stanch the rich customers' withdrawals that had plagued it since a high profile tax evasion scandal.

Swiss bank UBS AG posted a fourth-quarter profit of 1.205 billion Swiss francs ($1.12 billion) Tuesday, beating analysts' expectations partly thanks to a tax credit, but said rich clients' withdrawals had continued.

Swiss bank UBS AG will inform American clients whether their bank accounts are among the 4,450 that will be revealed to the U.S.

Justice Department in a tax evasion investigation.

The United States is building criminal cases against more than 150 American clients of Swiss bank UBS as part of a crackdown on tax evasion now made easier by a deal over access to secret account information.