UBS makes quarterly profit of 3.04 billion dollars
Keystone-SDA
UBS once again earned significantly more than expected in the first quarter of 2026. The integration of Credit Suisse is almost complete.
The Swiss bank earned $3.04 billion in profits in the first three months of 2026, 80% than in the previous year, it announced on Wednesday. Analysts had expected an average of just $2.43 billion. UBS had already earned more than the experts’ estimates in each of the last few quarters.
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Adjusted for integration costs, UBS reports a pre-tax profit for the period of $3.99 billion (+54%). Meanwhile, the bank’s income rose by 13% to $14.24 billion, while expenses remained more or less stable at $10.33 billion. The cost/income ratio, which is important for a bank, thus improved significantly to 70.2% on an adjusted basis.
High inflow of new money
In its core business – global asset management – the bank attracted $37 billion net in new money in the first quarter. Nevertheless, assets under management fell to $6,881 billion at the end of March from 7,005 billion at the end of December. UBS attributes this to the weaker markets and exchange rate movements.
Join the debate:
Meanwhile, the Credit Suisse integration continues to progress. Further cost savings of around $0.8 billion were achieved in the quarter under review. Savings since the start of the restructuring programme now stand at $11.5 billion. The aim is to reduce costs by $13.5 billion by the end of the year compared to 2022.
“Having now successfully transferred all client accounts in Switzerland, we achieved another crucial milestone in one
of the most complex integrations in banking history. We are confident in substantially completing the integration by
year-end, positioning us for further sustainable growth,” UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti was quoted as saying in the press release.
Meanwhile, UBS wants to continue to engage “constructively” on the issue of Swiss capital adequacy requirements and contribute to a “fact-based debate”, according to Ermotti.
“These developments do not, and will not, change who we are as a firm. We remain committed to our diversified business model and our global and regional footprint,” he added.
UBS anticipates that it will need additional capital totalling $22 billion if the Swiss government’s proposals from last week are passed by parliament.
More
More
Swiss lawmakers signal compromise on $22bn UBS capital plan
UBS satisfied with result
Ermotti expressed his satisfaction with the first quarter results.
“In the first quarter we continued helping clients navigate a volatile and unpredictable geopolitical and market environment, leveraging the strength and breadth of our global, diversified franchise. We delivered excellent financial results and remain on track to deliver on our financial objectives for 2026,” he said.
He is also reasonably confident about the outlook for the future. The markets will remain “largely resilient” in the second quarter, according to him. This reflects expectations that a lasting diplomatic solution to the conflict in the Middle East can be achieved.
Although customer activity “remains robust”, risks remain elevated and circumstances could change rapidly, which could affect customer sentiment and activity.
Adapted from German by AI/ac
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.
