PARIS -- Switzerland, a banking redoubt considered until recently to be literally and figuratively above the global financial tumult, succumbed Thursday and announced a bailout plan for its biggest bank, UBS.
Hit harder than any other European financial institution by losses stemming from bad investments in subprime American mortgage debt, UBS will receive a lifeline worth as much as $60 billion from the Swiss National Bank.
The country's other banking powerhouse, Credit Suisse, announced that it would raise $8.75 billion in fresh capital from private backers, including the Qatar Investment Authority, after turning down the offer of direct government help.