UBS costs to settle probes may exceed Citigroup's: report
(Reuters) - UBS AG (UBSN.VX), Switzerland's biggest bank, may pay more than Citigroup Inc (C.N) or Merrill Lynch & Co MER.N to settle state and federal claims that it fraudulently sold auction-rate securities, Bloomberg reported, citing a person who briefed on the negotiations.
UBS is close to resolving those claims and may make a promise to retail and institutional clients to buy back the securities, valued at $25 billion by regulators, the agency said citing the person.
On Thursday, Citigroup (C.N) agreed to buy back about $7.5 billion of the debt, as part of settlements with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Zurich-based UBS, the target of three state complaints over auction-rate sales, has been in talks this week with Massachusetts, Texas, New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission in an effort to settle the claims.
"We are consistently working with regulators towards a comprehensive solution for all auction-rate securities investors," UBS spokeswoman Sabine Woessner told Reuters, but declined to comment on the report.
(Reporting by Sven Egenter in Zurich and Purwa Naveen Raman in Bangalore)
