Banking giant UBS AG has announced that 10,000 jobs are to be cut in a bid to reduce the size of its investment bank.

The US tax agency has awarded a former Swiss banker $104 million for providing information about overseas tax cheats – the largest amount ever awarded by the Internal Revenue Service, lawyers for the whistleblower say.

Swiss bank UBS AG has reported a 55% drop in first-quarter net profit for 2012 due to writedowns and difficult market conditions.

Apple profits almost doubled in the last quarter, reflecting robust demand for the iPhone in China, as well as purchases of a new version of the iPad tablet, allaying the concerns that fuelled a 12% two-week slump in the stock.

Kentz Corp, the Clonmel-headquartered oil and gas engineering company whose clients include Exxon Mobil, fell the most in eight months in London trading after two directors agreed to sell shares.

Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS AG has reported a net profit of 393 million Swiss francs (425 million US dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2011 in the wake of a two-billion US dollar rogue trading scandal.

SWISS private bank Wegelin & Co confirmed yesterday that three employees had been charged by US authorities for helping US taxpayers hide some $1.2 billion (€904m) in assets from tax authorities.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the debt ratings for five major European commercial banks and co-operative banking groups, citing the eurozone crisis and stronger headwinds facing the banking sector.

Federal prosecutors in the US are seeking a lenient prison sentence for a former Swiss banker convicted of tax fraud because of his assistance in uncovering other tax evasion cases.

FORMER EU competition commissioner Mario Monti is rushing to form a new government in a bid to restore confidence in Italy’s finances as markets offered little relief to the premier-in-waiting.

SWISS banking giant UBS said yesterday that a rogue trader has caused it an estimated loss of €1.66 billion, stunning a beleaguered banking industry that has proven vulnerable to unauthorised trades.

The US government has begun legal action against 17 financial firms, including the country’s largest banks, for selling billions worth of mortgage-backed securities that turned toxic when the housing market collapsed.

PERNOD-RICARD, the owners of Jameson Irish Whiskey and Chivas Regal Scotch, said organic growth of its range of spirits and wines rose 10% in the last quarter.

JOB vacancies at London’s financial services companies rose 7% last month as firms sought to replace workers lost during the credit crisis.

BANK of Ireland, the country’s biggest lender by market value, has raised €1.73 billion in a share sale, boosting capital after losses surged.

THE group of G20 nations have failed to agree on a proposal to impose a global tax on banks aimed at making the financial industry shoulder the cost of bailouts, settling instead for a common set of guidelines.

Round Rock: Dell Inc, the world’s third-largest personal-computer maker, reported first-quarter gross margins that missed some analysts’ estimates after rising component costs eroded the benefit of a rebound in corporate demand.

IRELAND’S decision last October to guarantee all deposits and borrowings at six Irish banks to prevent a run on the banks rattled governments across Europe, according to a BBC documentary screened last night.

BANK of Ireland believes that in a worst-case scenarios it will have to write off €2 billion a year in bad loans to 2011 – at best, the write-offs will total €4.5bn.

Switzerland today announced it would abandon its long-standing tradition of near-total banking secrecy.

Banking giant UBS will pay US$780m (€619.8m) and turn over once-secret Swiss bank records to settle claims that it conspired to defraud the US government of taxes owed by thousands of American clients.

THERE were calls yesterday for Anglo Irish Bank’s disgraced former chairman to face the full force of the law after secretly borrowing up to €129 million from the bank.

Switzerland followed other countries today by announcing it would inject billions into its banking system.

Wall Street slid as downbeat news from JPMorgan Chase & Co and other financial companies has increased the market's nervousness about the continuing impact of the credit crisis on the economy.

BANK OF IRELAND PLC plans to sell two-year floating-rate notes in euros, according to a banker involved in the transaction.

Wall Street started the week with a mixed performance today, with many investors moving to the sidelines as they wait for quarterly profit reports.

SPECULATORS are betting heavily that crude oil will hit $200 a barrel by the year’s end.

Stocks sank today as a modest upturn in existing home sales failed to lift investors’ downcast spirits on the last day of Wall Street’s volatile and difficult year.

Wall Street advanced sharply today, boosted by news that Merrill Lynch will receive an investment of up to $6.2bn (€4.3bn) from two investment groups.

A late-session buying spurt gave US stocks a moderate lift today.

The administrator appointed by the Italian government to restructure dairy giant Parmalat SpA filed a lawsuit yesterday against UBS AG seeking to recover €290 million from the Swiss bank.

Investment bankers fresh out of school are getting signing bonuses of $45,000, more than twice as much as last year.

The market is infatuated with the euro which rose to $1.2450. Richard Blackden reports.

BRITAIN'S second biggest mortgage lender Abbey National, targeted last year recently by Bank of Ireland, slumped to its first annual loss of €1.447 (Stg£984m) in a massive reversal of fortunes.