Europe's biggest banks see profits hit by eurozone debt crisis

Switzerland's biggest bank UBS and Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest lender, have both posted sharp falls in profits for Q2 as fees and commissions dwindled in the face of the eurozone crisis.

The Swiss bank's net income declined 58% to 425m Swiss francs, down from 1.02bn Swiss francs the year before, according to the BBC. Meanwhile, Deutsche's quarterly earnings slid 63% to €375m, from €969m the previous year. Both banks put the losses down to the European debt crisis and the economic downturn in the US. UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti is shrinking UBS's investment bank by more than half to focus on wealth management as rising capital requirements and Europe's sovereign-debt crisis drag on profitability at the securities unit. It warned it would look into ...