UBS Gets a $29 Billion Bump From M.&A. Accounting

The Swiss bank’s sharply discounted takeover of Credit Suisse led to a paper gain that gave it the biggest quarterly profit by a bank in history. When UBS agreed to buy its archrival, Credit Suisse, for a little over $3 billion this spring at the Swiss government’s behest, analysts and investors said that price represented a steep discount. UBS’s latest financial results reflect just how much of a steal it was. Today, the bank reported a $29 billion profit — yes, you read that right — for the second quarter,...