ANOTHER WRITE-DOWN & PLEA FOR CASH

UPDATE: More of the same - Deutsche Bank Faces Writedowns Of About $3.95 Billion

UBS takes another hit from the credit crunch and writes down an additional $19 billion. The good news is that another executive will resign.

UBS Says Ospel Resigns After $19 Billion Writedowns (Update2)
By Elena Logutenkova

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, struggling to stem damage from the U.S. subprime meltdown, reported a second straight quarterly loss after an additional $19 billion of writedowns and said Chairman Marcel Ospel will step down.

The bank will seek 15 billion francs ($15.1 billion) in a rights offer to replenish capital, after already raising 13 billion francs from investors in Singapore and the Middle East. The writedowns will lead to a first-quarter loss of 12 billion francs and further job reductions, Zurich-based UBS said today.

Ospel, who led the creation of UBS in a merger a decade ago, will be succeeded by general counsel Peter Kurer. The Swiss bank joins Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. in turning to investors for a second time to increase capital after writedowns and losses on subprime-infected assets cost the world's biggest financial institutions more than $208 billion.

Losses already cost the jobs of former CEO Peter Wuffli, finance chief Clive Standish and investment banking head Huw Jenkins.

New York-based Citigroup and Merrill said in January they will receive $14.5 billion and $6.6 billion from investors respectively, after getting $7.5 billion and $5.6 billion cash infusions in November and December.