UBS could have taken as much as Sfr3.5bn (€2.5bn) hit on the sale of a Sfr25bn mortgage portfolio, according to analysts, who speculated the Swiss financial group had offloaded the holding at “fire sale” prices.

Analysts at JP Morgan this morning wrote that UBS was “likely” to have sold a multi-billion Swiss Franc portfolio of Alt-A mortgage, increasing its estimated writedown in 2008 from Sfr15bn to Sfr18.5bn.