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* Stronger Swiss franc, negative rates to pressure profit
* Trebles dividend payout from previous year
* Shares down more than four percent (Adds comment from UBS, analysts)
By Joshua Franklin and Katharina Bart
ZURICH, Feb 10 (Reuters) - UBS Group AG has warnedabout the impact on profit of the surging Swiss franc andnegative interest rates, while also disclosing another taxinvestigation in the United States involving wealthy clients.
Shares in UBS slid more than four percent to 15.42 francs by1225 GMT, despite the bank trebling its dividend from theprevious year and saying it had made a solid start to 2015.
Switzerland's biggest bank said a sudden move by the Swisscentral bank to abandon a cap on the franc, which sent thecurrency surging and is set to make life difficult for Swissfinancial firms and exporters, will take a toll.
"The increased value of the Swiss franc relative to othercurrencies, especially the U.S. dollar and the euro, andnegative interest rates in the euro zone and Switzerland willput pressure on our profitability and, if they persist, on someof our targeted performance levels," it said.
The bank said net profit for the fourth quarter of 2014 was963 million Swiss francs ($1.04 billion), exceeding the 937million francs analysts had forecast.
The profits led to what several analysts identified as arare bright spot -- a 0.75 franc per share dividend in twoseparate payouts, three times more than the 2013 payout of 0.25francs a share.
NEW INVESTIGATION
UBS said it faced a new investigation into the selling ofcertain securities that potentially violate tax law in theUnited States. It said it was cooperating with the U.S.authorities after it was approached last month but gave nofurther details.
UBS was hit by a bill last year of more than $1 billion tosettle past scandals.
The behaviour of global banks is under renewed scrutinyafter Britain's HSBC Holdings admitted failings by itsSwiss private bank that may have allowed some customers to dodgetaxes..
One London-based UBS investor said the results laid bareseveral disconcerting headwinds including the threat of costlylitigation, near-zero interest rates, and the continuedappreciation of the Swiss franc.
But the biggest worry was UBS's continued troubles in thelucrative wealth management market -- seen as central to itsfuture profitability as it pares back its investment banking.
"The first two factors are affecting much of the sector butour focus is on UBS's disappointing wealth management numbers -the poor inflows and falling margins," the London-based investorsaid.
Investment banking swung to a profit before tax of 367million Swiss francs from a third-quarter loss on a healthierresult from its equities business, but other parts of the groupperformed worse than in the previous three months.
The wealth management arm won 3 billion francs in net newmoney, less than a third of last quarter's result, and itsmargin on assets slipped. It also quietly dropped aprofitability target of between 95 and 105 basis points.
UBS revealed it would slash another 1 billion francs off itsspending, and said it would step up efforts to move jobs such asinformation technology to low-cost locations, but did not haveany "emergency plans" to deal with the strong Swiss franc.
"Trying to predict movements of currency for example in thenext two or three years is almost impossible," Chief ExecutiveSergio Ermotti said.
"So what we do today is something that we are doingregardless if the euro goes back to 1.20 or 1.25."
($1 = 0.9270 Swiss francs) (Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise in London; Editing byDavid Holmes and Keith Weir)
