UBS (NYSE: UBS - News) and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS - News) pre-released strikingly different third-quarter figures, although both in their separate ways demonstrated the ravages wreaked by the financial crisis.

UBS returned to profitability with a net third-quarter profit of SFr296m ($261m), but only because of a SFr912m tax credit. In the second quarter, heavy losses were mitigated by a big one-off fiscal boost.

Credit Suisse, by contrast, said it expected to lose SFr1.3bn after tax, based on writedowns and "exceptionally adverse" trading conditions in September.

More complete figures are due from Credit Suisse next week and from UBS early next month. Both groups reported heavy writedowns in investment banking. UBS suffered a SFr2.75bn pre-tax loss, mainly on the back of $4.4bn of writedowns, offset by a SFr2.2bn mark-up on its own debt.

UBS said it had reduced its portfolio of troubled securities by $13.5bn, mainly through asset sales. Last quarter these were estimated at $54.3bn.

Credit Suisse's investment bank forecast a pre-tax loss of about SFr3.2bn, after write­downs of SFr2.4bn in leveraged finance and structured products. Its figures were boosted by fair value gains on its own debt, amounting, in the case of Credit Suisse, to SFr1.9bn.

"The financial services sector witnessed unprecedented market disruption in September and extraordinary changes to the competitive landscape," said Brady Dougan, chief executive.

He told the Financial Times that traditionally strong areas, such as proprietary trading, convertibles and commodities, all suffered.

The bank also took a hit from exposure to Lehman Brothers, which Mr Dougan said was "modest".

There was better news from the private banking operations at both UBS and Credit Suisse.

Marcel Rohner, chief executive and former head of private banking at UBS, revealed wealth management and business banking had suffered a net outflow of SFr49.3bn in the period, 2.5 per cent of total assets under management.

Credit Suisse appeared to have benefited from its bigger rival's woes. The bank took SFr11bn in net new money in private banking, with a further SFr3bn flowing to its Swiss corporate and retail banking business, a 1.4 per cent increase in second-quarter AUM.