UBS settles US probe into mortgage investments Swiss banking giant UBS today said it has settled a US investigation into mortgage investments as it unveiled better-than-expected quarterly profits. The group is due to publish its full second-quarter results next week, but said today that net profits have risen to SFr690 million (£480m), up from SFr425m a year ago and well ahead of the SFr558m expected by analysts. Although UBS did not disclose how much the settlement with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has cost, it did report total costs for all "litigation matters and certain other significant provisions" of SFr865m for the quarter. UBS, the largest private bank in the world, is seeking to reinvent itself following a series of scandals, including a $1.5 billion (£981m) penalty for manipulating Libor and other benchmark interest rates. The bank said the agreement with the FHFA related to the sale of US residential mortgage-backed securities between 2004 and 2007.