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ZURICH (dpa-AFX) – As expected, the major bank UBS suffered from the difficult market conditions in the third quarter and earned significantly less than in the previous year. However, the expectations of the experts were clearly exceeded. The bottom line is that the largest Swiss bank earned 1.73 billion US dollars (around 1.7 billion euros) in the summer quarter, according to a statement on Tuesday. This is almost a quarter less than in the corresponding period of the previous year, when UBS had still earned over 2 billion. The stock was up 5 percent at midday. Analysts praised the figures almost continuously.
Before taxes, UBS made a profit of $2.32 billion, down almost 20 percent. Analysts’ estimates for the reporting period were in some cases significantly exceeded at all levels and also at divisional level. In the announcement, the bank speaks of a “good result in a difficult environment”. However, customers remained concerned about persistently high inflation, higher energy prices, the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the pandemic, bank chief Ralph Hamers said.
Earnings in the months of July to September fell by almost 10 percent compared to the previous year and reached $8.24 billion. With costs also slightly lower (-6 percent), the ratio of costs to income – the cost/income ratio that is important for banks – deteriorated to 71.8 percent. However, the bank was still well within the target range of 70 to 73 percent that it had set itself.
All divisions suffered a drop in earnings in an environment of uncertainty, although this was very small in the core division of global wealth management (-4 percent) and in the Swiss business (-2 percent). Investment banking (-47 percent) and asset management (-34 percent), on the other hand, suffered badly from the difficult conditions.
Assets under management continued to decline due to the setbacks on the financial markets. Overall, the bank managed around 3.7 trillion dollars at the end of September – a good 200 billion less than at the end of June. On the other hand, UBS was able to continue to acquire new funds despite the reluctance on the financial markets. In its core business, global wealth management, UBS attracted a net $17.1 billion in so-called fee-generating assets. Asset management also saw net new money inflows of 17.9 billion.
With regard to the further course of the year, CEO Hamers remains, as usual, not very specific. However, he is confident that UBS can continue to achieve “attractive and sustainable returns”. With a view to risk management and cost efficiency, the company will remain “disciplined” in the fourth quarter, he said. In 2022 as a whole, the bank also intends to buy back more than 5.5 billion shares, with its own shares already being purchased for more than 5 billion./ys/uh/gab/AWP/zb
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