European banks set for big writedowns-analysts

By Steve Slater

LONDON (Reuters) - UBS and other European banks are set to unveil billions more euros in writedowns on assets hit by the U.S. subprime crisis and credit crunch, although second quarter losses should be less than the previous quarter, analysts said.

Swiss bank UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) is again expected to be Europe's biggest casualty.

It said on Friday it should break even for the April-June quarter, but that is due largely to a tax credit offsetting more writedowns as markets have deteriorated.

Analysts predict UBS, which has already written down over $36 billion (18 billion pounds), could suffer another 4 billion to 8 billion Swiss franc hit.

Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) could mark down over 3 billion euros more and hits are also expected to be taken by Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and others.

European companies have written down over $150 billion since the U.S. subprime crisis began, out of a global total of more than $330 billion, according to Reuters estimates.

Banks have had to cut the value they attach to complex structured credit assets hurt by a U.S. housing crisis, such as collateralised debt obligations.

There could also be losses related to monoline insurers or on the reversal of gains they had previously made on the debt they carried.