UBS beats expectations with US$2.4 billion second-quarter profit

[ZURICH] UBS said on Wednesday (Jul 30) that second-quarter profit more than doubled from a year earlier as market turmoil drove trading activity.

Net profit attributable to shareholders for Switzerland’s largest bank came in at US$2.4 billion, comfortably ahead of a company-provided consensus estimate of US$2.045 billion.

In its investment banking division, revenues for global markets surged 25 per cent during a quarter when trading cues were focused on ructions caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war. At the same time, transaction-based income for its global wealth management division rose 12 per cent.

UBS said that it sees a high level of readiness among investors and companies to deploy capital as “conviction” around the macro outlook strengthens.

But it was too early to say when deals in the pipeline would be executed, the bank said.

UBS expected trading and transactional activity to become more normalised in the quarter ahead, it added.

Net interest income in global wealth management and the Swiss business would likely be broadly stable in Swiss francs, while there would be a low single-digit percentage increase in US dollar terms.

Integration of its one-time rival Credit Suisse remained on track, UBS said in its second-quarter statement, with one-third of client accounts booked in Switzerland migrated. Cumulative cost reductions reached US$9.1 billion, or 70 per cent of expected gross cost savings, it added.

UBS was delivering on its capital return plans for 2025 and continued accruing for double-digit growth in its dividend, the bank said.

It is reporting earnings for the first time since the Swiss government proposed in June stricter rules for the country’s remaining big bank.

UBS has said that it strongly disagrees with what it calls an “extreme increase” in proposed capital requirements to cover risks in its foreign operations and which could mean it would need to hold around US$24 billion in additional CET1 capital. REUTERS