The chairman of Swiss banking and wealth management giantUBS,Peter Kurer, says the troubled Swiss firm will remain independent and should return to profitability next year after suffering several quarters of losses.

“We will be profitable again in 2009,” Mr Kurer was quoted as saying in an interview with Swiss Sunday newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

One of the worst-hit banks by the subprime crisis, UBS has written down some SFr42.5 billion on its subprime-related assets. For its second quarter, it posted a net loss of SFr358 million. Mr Kurer said the current situation faced by the bank could be compared to the aftermath of a severe storm.

“One must first remove the fallen trees, then tidy up the house and cellar, and in the third phase, bring the shine back to the house,” he said, adding that he believes the bank to be now in the second phase.

“And I hope that we can end this quickly, maybe already by year-end. To bring the shine back to the house, that would take, based on experience, two to three years,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Mr Kurer said UBS will still be independent in two years' time, according to an interview published by Basler Zeitung.

"We have now laid the foundation for a new future. The risks have been reduced, costs lowered, strategy changed, the management board renewed, managers replaced," Mr Kurer said.

Last week, UBS announced it was splitting its three main segments - wealth management, asset management and investment banking – into three autonomous units, while falling short of spinning these elements into three entirely separately listed businesses.

Analysts told WealthBriefing last week that these measures fell short of making the units totally independent, separate companies.