UBS bolstered its first-quarter profit and hoovered up more than 50 billion Swiss francs at its wealth management divisions. The coming months will prove more difficult for the Swiss bank though.
The Zurich-based bank's first-quarter net profit rose 19 percent to 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.54 billion), UBS said in a statement on Monday. It took in a total of 50 billion francs at its wealth and asset management arms.
«We had an excellent start to 2018, with our results once again showing the power of our diversified business,» CEOSergio Ermotti said. «Momentum in our business is good and we continue to invest for growth and efficiency.»
The new global wealth management, which combines a U.S. brokerage with the wider private bank in hot spots like Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East as well as Switzerland, flexed its muscles: the unit's profit rose by 20 percent, and all regions posted inflows of client money.
Cautious on Outlook
The coming months will prove more difficult for CEO Ermotti and the 11-person management team which is settling into the recent changes: the Swiss bank's funding costs on long-term debt and capital instruments will rise against the same period last year. UBS will also begin buying back as much as 2 billion francs in its own shares.
The bank also noted that transaction-based income at its investment bank as well as its private bank won't reach the same peak as in the first quarter, which is traditionally the strongest in banking.
More to follow
