UBS: tough buy

UBS is a laggard but isn’t as far behind as the latest headline figures suggest. Strip out some quirky charges from the SFr1.4bn (E917m) loss and the Swiss bank actually turned a profit in the second quarter. As overdone as the red ink looks, the results still point to a slow recovery. To get a better sense of the stability UBS has achieved, first add back the SFr1.2bn charge from the improvement of its own credit quality. Accounting rules perversely turn improving investor confidence into losse...