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Zürich, 14. April 2010.As shareholders gather for UBS‟s shareholder meeting to hear not only what the current management has to report on 2009 activities, but also to hear about the previous management, one thing is clear: the world‟s media share a disastrous opinion of the bank. The Media Tenor Reputation Analysis clearly shows that the opinion-leading US, European and Middle East media -from the Wall Street Journal, Al Arabia, Handelsblatt through to the NZZ –continue to portray a very negative perception of the media activities from both the old, and the new top management at UBS.

The Asian media stands alone as the only region to report neutrally on UBS. “This result shows the different journalistic cultures –in Asia the journalist tend to hold back in their criticism“, says Roland Schatz, founder and editor in chief of Media Tenor International, to the current reputation study comparing UBS to Credit Suisse.

Schatz also points out the agenda setting effect of the tonality of coverage in different regions „It also reflects and impacts on the behavior of clients:in the US, Europe and the Near East bank clients have withdrawn not just their trust but also their money, whereas in Asia, UBS was able to operate without a significant withdrawal of client money”

The media image of UBS in the first quarter of 2010 was not able to regain positivity, even though the bank announced increased profits for Q4 2009. This goes against the general a rule that the bottom line determines the media image of financial institutions. “The fact that this is not happening for UBS is a result of the failure of top managers to explain the mistakes of the past and to apologize for them in a way which people will accept. The management has not been able to communicate that the promises for future transparency are more than just empty words. As long as the opinion leading media are not convinced, then both clients and stakeholders will not be able to return to trust with UBS” says Schatz.

The detailed study will be released in New York on 28thApril as part of the of the “Trust Meltdown” book launch.

The UBS-CS Reputation Analysis is based on 5.612 (UBS) / 3.681 (CS) reports on Banks their managers in 50 international opinion leading Media including Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Les Echos, FAZ, NZZ, BBC, Al Jazeeraetc from 1.1.2009 to 31.3.2010.

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