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Notes to the Financial Statements
Notes to the Financial Statements

Note 1 Basis of Accounting
Note 1  Basis of Accounting

UBS AG’s (“UBS”) consolidated financial statements (Financial Statements) are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and stated in Swiss francs (CHF). These Financial Statements are presented in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting. In preparing the interim Financial Statements, the same accounting principles and methods of computation are applied as in the Financial Statements on 31 December 2005 and for the year then ended except for the changes set out below. The interim Financial Statements are unaudited. In the opinion of management, all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods have been made. These interim Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited Financial Statements included in the UBS Financial Report 2005. On 2 June 2006, UBS issued a restated Financial Report 2005 to present Motor-Columbus, a financial holding company with a significant interest in the Atel Group that was sold on 23 March 2006, as a discontinued operation.

UBS sponsors the formation of companies, which may or may not be directly or indirectly owned subsidiaries, for the purpose of asset securitization transactions and to accomplish certain narrow and well-defined objectives. These companies may acquire assets directly or indirectly from UBS or its affiliates. Some of these companies are bankruptcy-remote entities whose assets are not available to satisfy the claims of creditors of UBS or any of its subsidiaries. Such companies are consolidated in the Financial Statements when the relationship between UBS and the company indicates that it is controlled by UBS.

Changes in accounting policies

Amendment to the fair value option

In June 2005, the IASB issued amendments to IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement in relation to the fair value option (“Revised Fair Value Option”). UBS adopted the Revised Fair Value Option for financial instruments on a prospective basis on 1 January 2006. Prior to 1 January 2006, UBS designated almost all of its issued hybrid debt instruments as financial liabilities held at fair value through profit and loss. These liabilities are presented in a separate line on the face of the balance sheet. A small amount of financial assets were also designated as financial assets held at fair value through profit and loss, and they are likewise presented in a separate line. A financial instrument may only be designated at inception as held at fair value through profit and loss and cannot subsequently be changed. All fair value changes related to financial instruments held at fair value through profit and loss are recognized in Net trading income.

Under the Revised Fair Value Option, UBS continues to account for these existing financial instruments as financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value through profit or loss as the conditions for designating these instruments as held at fair value through profit and loss continue to be met on the basis that they are either hybrid instruments which would otherwise have to be bifurcated into debt host contracts and embedded derivatives or because they are items that are part of a portfolio which is risk managed on a fair value basis and reported to senior management as such. In second quarter 2006, UBS started applying the fair value option to certain new loans and loan commitments and extended the use of the fair value option to additional new loans and loan commitments in third quarter 2006. These loans and loan commitments are hedged with credit derivatives from inception onwards. In third quarter 2006, UBS additionally applied the fair value option to certain hybrid instruments resulting from structured repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements and to a hedge fund investment which is part of a portfolio managed on a fair value basis.

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