Switzerland’s biggest lender by assets, UBS AG, announced on Tuesday a 76 percent fall year-on-year in net profits for the fourth quarter of 2011 in the wake of its $2bn rogue trading scandal last year.

Figures fell to SFr393m for the quarter compared to a SFR1.66bn a year earlier, and were below analyst’s average estimates of SFr739m.

UBS’s investment banking arm posted the biggest losses amid challenging economic circumstances, plunging to a pre-tax loss of SFr256m from a SFr100m profit a year earlier.

The bank says it foresees “headwinds” for growth in the early part of 2012 due to the bloc’s sovereign debt crisis and prolonged ambiguity concerning the global economy.

The news comes only a week after Deutsche Bank reported a 76 percent decline in fourth quarter profits.

The Chinese government on Monday announced it has prohibited state-owned airlines from paying EU-imposed charges on carbon emissions.

The move by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which is the globe’s fastest growing aviation market, is said to trigger a dispute about the cost of combating climate change.

Fitch warned in December that this clash could also spiral into a possible global trade war.

But, China could have abnormally strong leverage in a potential dispute as its airlines carry vast quantities of Chinese and Asian tourists to Europe and back, which would mean any disruption could hurt the EU’s travel industry.

The US Justice Department late on Thursday announced it had filed criminal charges against Wegelin & Co, Switzerland’s oldest private bank, for purportedly helping wealthy US citizens evade taxes between 2002 and 2011.

It is alleged that the 271 year old bank conspired together with US taxpayers and other parties to conceal $1.2bn in secret bank accounts. An estimated $16m have been seized from the bank’s correspondent US bank accounts at UBS in Stamford in accordance with a seizure warrant and a civil forfeiture complaint, said the Justice Department.
Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara said: “Wegelin bank aided and abetted US taxpayers who were in flagrant violation of the tax code. And they were undeterred by the crystal-clear warning they got when they learned that UBS was under investigation for identical practices.”

The globe’s biggest listed commodities trader, Glencore International, and Anglo Swiss mining giant Xstrata, on Thursday announced they are in talks about a possible merger.

The mining group said that it was “not certain” whether the talks would “lead to an offer being made by Glencore for Xstrata.”

Glencore, which already owns a 35 percent stake in Xstrata, has made an all-share offer, Xstrata said in a published statement to the LSE.

It is believed that if negotiations prove successful, the merger could create a company worth an estimated $83bn.

French defence supplier Dassault Aviation has been chosen as India’s preferred bidder in an eagerly contested $20bn race to provide 126 fighter jets to India.

The Dassault Rafale fighter jet was named the lowest priced compliant bidder ahead of the Eurofighter Typhoon which is produced by the UK’s BAE Systems. Through this deal the French have consolidated their presence in India’s defence space, while Britain suffered a significant industrial setback.

India said it will now enter into exclusive cost negotiations with Dassault to discuss the contract which is estimated to be worth between $15bn and $20bn.

In line with India’s regulations, foreign manufacturers have to either offset or purchase at least 30 percent of the components and services locally. Dassault stated that the first 18 aircrafts will be built by its French manufacturer while the remainder will be built in association with an Indian company.

After a decade at the helm the governor of New Zealand’s Reserve bank, Alan Bollard, on Monday announced he is to step down in September after deciding not to seek a third term in office.

The move comes as the country is preparing for a large-scale privatisation programme that involves the sale of stakes in several state-owned corporations including Genesis, Solid Energy, Mighty River Power and Meridian.

Bollard leaves as New Zealand is struggling with slow economic growth, raised funding costs for its banks and a strong domestic currency.

The focus will now be on who will succeed Bollard to take on the most powerful post in New Zealand’s economy. Former central bank deputy Murray Sherwin, Reserve Bank chairman Arthur Grimes and Reserve Bank deputy governor Grant Spencer are all in the running.

Swiss engineering giant ABB on Monday said it is buying US electrical equipment manufacturer Thomas & Betts in a $3.9bn cash transaction.

The world’s largest producer of power and automation technologies offered $72 a share in cash for the Tennessee-based company.

The acquisition will provide ABB access to Thomas & Betts network of over 6,000 distributor locations and help it double its low voltage products market to around $24bn in North America, according to a company statement.

The acquisition price represents a 24 percent premium to Thomas & Betts; closing stock price on Friday.

The Zurich-based company has secured a fully underwritten bridge financing worth $4bn from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the group.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron late on Thursday launched an attack on his European counterparts at the World Economic Forum about their planned transaction tax “madness.”

Cameron said the introduction of such a tax could cost half a million jobs and cut Europe’s economic output by around €200bn.

He also risked upsetting relations with Germany in the run-up to the European summit next week by telling Germany it needs to play a bigger role in protecting the euro because “bold and decisive action” is required.

He told the Davos assembly that in spite of the UK rejecting the new EU treaty he wants the country to remain within the EU. He said: “To those who think that not signing the treaty means Britain is somehow walking away from Europe let me tell you, nothing could be further from the truth.”

Swiss drug giant Roche Holding on Wednesday made a hostile $5.7bn bid for DNA diagnostics company Illumina. Roche had previously attempted “multiple efforts” to start negotiations but Illumina refused to enter into “substantive discussion,” the company said.

The offering of $44.50 a share represents an 18 percent premium over Illumina’s closing price per share on Tuesday.

Roche said an acquisition of Illumina would provide benefits such as increased strength in the life sciences and diagnostics sector.

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday slashed its growth forecast for the current fiscal year, citing as reasons the appreciation of the yen, the upshot of a slowdown in overseas economies and declining post earthquake reconstruction spending.

The bank’s governor Masaaki Shirakawa and the board reduced the economic forecast to two percent from an earlier 2.2 estimate in October. But the central bank left monetary policy unchanged for the third successive month. The policy rate remains at close to zero percent.

The Japanese economy is expected to shrink 0.4 percent in fiscal year 2011, invalidating a previous forecast for a 0.3 percent growth, according to the central bank.

Bank officials noted that the European debt crisis remains Japan’s largest threat to its disaster stricken economy.