UBS sees further quarterly loss

UBS is trying to rebuild after heavy losses in the US sub-prime market

Swiss bank UBS says it made a third quarter loss of 564m Swiss francs ($552m; £337m) after being hit by accounting charges of 2.15bn francs.

The Zurich-based bank says that without these one-off charges it would have made a pre-tax profit of 1.56bn francs.

The results are the third quarterly loss this year and the second under new chief executive Oswald Gruebel.

UBS has been hit particularly hard by the credit crisis, suffering big losses in the US sub-prime mortgage market.

'Progress' expected

The bank also failed to stem an outflow of funds, with customers withdrawing assets amounting to 36.7bn francs in the three months ending 30 September.

"The bank does not expect an immediate recovery in client net new money flows," it said in a statement.

UBS said operating income rose to 5.77bn francs, up 4% on the same period last year.

"Having stabilised the bank's financial condition and resized the business, UBS expects to see further progress in restoring the underlying profitability of the business in future quarters, particularly in 2010," the bank added.