VIDEO : UBS, CREDIT SUISSE & CITIGROUP

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UBS made public a summary of an internal investigation into the mistakes that led it to write down a total of $38 billion, the most by any European bank hit by the subprime crisis. The company laid most of the blame on positions taken by its investment-banking arm. To rebuild its fortunes, the Swiss bank is reducing the size of its investment-banking business to refocus on its private-client base.

Other banks added to the list of woes stemming from the mortgage markets. Credit Suisse, UBS's rival, swung to a loss in the first quarter largely because it took SFr5.3 billion (around $5.0 billion) in writedowns. Bank of America said its first-quarter profit had fallen by 77% compared with a year ago, and that it would increase its provision for credit losses by $5 billion. Citigroup booked another $13 billion in writedowns and made a quarterly loss of $5.1 billion. And Royal Bank of Scotland said it needed to raise £12 billion ($24 billion), about a third of its market value, in a rights issue to help protect its core capital.

The Bank of England unveiled an initiative that will allow British banks over the next six months to swap high-quality mortgage-backed and other securities for Treasury bills for up to three years. The central bank estimated that around £50 billion ($100 billion) of such assets would be swapped at first.

Meanwhile, a survey from the British Bankers' Association found that the number of approvals for house purchases fell by 46% in the 12 months to March and was at its lowest since the series began in 1997.

In an effort to revive investor confidence, China reduced its stamp duty on share trading to 0.1% from 0.3%. The tax was increased in May 2007 to cool feverish stockmarkets. Since then the government has made fighting inflation its top priority, causing some to worry that economic growth will slow.