UBS today admitted the final rush to create Dillon Read Capital Management left little opportunity to question its business rationale. The Swiss group, under fire after massive writedowns last year, also branded the hedge fund’s formation and closure less than a year later as “highly distractive” for senior management at a “critical” point in the US sub-prime downturn.

In a lengthy overview to UBS shareholders outlining the findings of a report to Swiss regulators on the nature and development of last year’s $18.7bn (€11.8bn) in net sub-prime losses and their causes, the bank also admitted that “incomplete data capture and the effects of hedging” left it unable to derive a comprehensive view of its investment bank’s gross notional holdings with sub-prime exposure.