The global financial crisis deepens: $26.6B MORE for UBS

do they think that if they just let the bad news dribble out slowly, nobody's going to notice...? how long do they think they can hold on...?

Swiss bank UBS has revealed $26.6 billion in exposure to risky U.S. mortgages distinct from subprime loans, increasing its vulnerability to the global credit crisis and sending its shares sharply lower.

Shares in the bank, which declined to say if it would return to profit in early 2008, were trading down 5.9 percent at 38.46 francs at 5:45 a.m. EST.

UBS said on Thursday the newly unveiled exposure, announced together with full-year and fourth-quarter results, was to so-called Alt-A mortgages, which are of higher quality than subprime loans but also considered risky.

UBS has taken about $18 billion of dollars in write-downs on its exposure to U.S. subprime mortgages, which at the end of December amounted to a net $27.594 billion, making it one of the biggest casualties of the global credit crunch.

the first collapse of a major bank is going to send tsunami-size shock waves around the world, bet on it...

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