Panoramic view of the UBS Group Building in Manhattan, New York City, June 5, 2023.
Eduardo Muñoz Alvarez | View News | Corbis News | Getty Images
swiss banking giant UBS On Wednesday, second-quarter net profit beat estimates as its global wealth management and investment banking division reported a sharp rise in revenue.
Net profit to shareholders for the same period was US$1.136 billion, compared with the company’s consensus forecast of US$528 million.
Still, profit was below the $1.755 analysts expected in the first-quarter report.
Second-quarter group revenue also exceeded expectations, at $11.904 billion, compared with $11.522 billion reported by LSEG.
UBS said strong capital markets activity partially offset a drag on net interest income, which it had previously said would weaken due to lower loan and deposit volumes and lower interest rates in Switzerland.
Revenue at the bank’s global wealth management unit rose 15% to $6.053 billion, which UBS said was largely due to the Credit Suisse merger. Revenue at the investment banking unit jumped 38% to $2.803 billion.
UBS said in its outlook that the macroeconomic outlook “continues to be clouded by ongoing conflicts, other geopolitical tensions and the upcoming U.S. election.”
“We expect these uncertainties to persist for the foreseeable future and they may result in greater market volatility compared to the first half,” it added.
UBS has turned a profit Season 1 After two quarters of losses, the company warned that net interest income would fall at both its global wealth management and personal and corporate banking units.
It is now more than a year Since UBS officially acquired Credit Suisse, it has triggered a huge integration process and created a wealth management giant. UBS explain At the beginning of July, the merger process was completed and Credit Suisse collapsed spectacularly In March 2023, the company ceased to exist as an independent entity after years of financial scandals.
The bank said it now expects total cumulative savings from Credit Suisse transactions to reach $7 billion by the end of 2024, well above its 2026 target of $13 billion (based on a 2022 baseline). The company had previously aimed to save $6.5 billion by the end of the year.
UBS has already cut jobs and risk-weighted assets as part of the merger process. The company said on Wednesday it expected to achieve $7 billion in cost savings by the end of 2024, having previously targeted savings of about $6.5 billion during that period.
