Eurotrashed

The fallout from the U.S. subprime debacle continues to spread overseas. Swiss bank UBS AG posted first-quarter losses of $12.1 billion, prompting the resignation of the banks Chairman, Marcel Ospel. UBS write-downs (a write-down is a reduction in the book value of an asset that's considered overvalued compared to market) have reached $40 billion in the past nine months, larger than any bank. Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank AG, also announced $4 billion in write-downs.