Banks
UBS earns $2.69 billion in the third quarter, broadly in line, and pulls forward the end of its $3 billion buyback
Wealth clients added $55.1 billion of net new assets, while the bank warned the pace of buybacks still hinges on Switzerland's capital debate.
HedgeWeekly News Desk ·
UBS reported third-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders of $2.69 billion, or 85 cents a diluted share, on Wednesday, up 8% from a year earlier and close to the $2.71 billion consensus the bank compiled, according to Reuters as cited by Global Banking & Finance Review. Revenue rose 5% to $13.35 billion on a reported basis and 10% on an underlying basis, and the reported cost-to-income ratio fell to 72.3% from 77%.
Global Wealth Management drew $55.1 billion of net new assets, an annualised growth rate of 4.5%, with about $18 billion coming from Asia and $17 billion from the Americas. Invested assets in the division reached $4.98 trillion, and $7.3 trillion across the group. The CET1 capital ratio stood at 14.7%.
UBS repurchased $1.8 billion of shares in the quarter and now plans to finish its $3 billion programme by the time it reports fourth-quarter results, which Reuters put at February 2027, earlier than a previous mid-2027 target. Gross savings from the Credit Suisse integration reached $13.2 billion, and the bank lifted its end-2026 expectation to about $13.7 billion from about $13.5 billion.
For investors, the capital question still outweighs the quarter. UBS said the size and pace of buybacks depend on Swiss parliamentary deliberations over how much capital it must hold against foreign subsidiaries; the rules are in committee and expected to reach the lower house in December, after upper-house proposals last month that UBS called unacceptable. It also guided to a seasonal fall in transaction volumes in the fourth quarter and aims to end 2026 with CET1 at or close to its roughly 14% target.