The big Swiss bank UBS on Tuesday reported a net profit of $1.8 billion for the first quarter of this year CNBC reported. The profit amounts to approximately 1.7 billion euros and easily exceeds analysts’ expectations. The high profit was mainly due to lower costs following the acquisition of Credit Suisse in June 2023, the company said.
Analysts didn’t even believe USB could achieve half the gains
Net income easily exceeded the average analyst estimate from an LSEG survey of $721.4 million. The experts did not even expect that half of the profits actually achieved would be realised.
UBS’s revenues totaled $12.74 billion. A significant increase compared to the previous quarter, which generated revenues of $10.86 billion.
The bank’s CET1 capital ratio, a measure of liquidity, also improved: it stood at 14.8 percent, compared to 14.4 percent in the previous quarter. CEO Sergio Ermotti weighed in on the numbers: “This quarter marks an increase in net profit, a testament to the strength of our business and our ability to move forward with integration plans.” UBS is currently “actively optimizing our financial resources,” Ermotti explains.
USB stock may leave the downside channel
The share price of the UBS is down almost five percent so far this year. On Tuesday morning she managed to turn the tide: UBS gained more than three percent in over-the-counter trading on the Lang & Schwarz platform.
The UBS Group is one of the largest financial institutions in the world in terms of assets under management, with 1.5 trillion Swiss francs. At the end of 2023, the group employed approximately 140,000 people.