UBS closes third quarter with net profit of $2.7 billion

UBS published its third-quarter results on Wednesday, closing the July-to-September period with a pre-tax profit of $3.6 billion, up 27% year on year. Net profit came in at $2.7 billion. On an underlying basis, which accounts for effects linked to the integration of Credit Suisse, pre-tax profit rose to $4.1 billion, up 14%.

Operating income increased by 5% to $13.35 billion; on an underlying basis the rise was 10%, for a total of $13.39 billion. The group attributes the result to solid client activity across its various business segments. In wealth management, the bank recorded net new money of $55.1 billion during the quarter, driven mainly by clients in Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

Solid capital, higher dividend for shareholders

Capital ratios remain high: the CET1 ratio stands at 14.7% and the CET1 leverage ratio at 4.6%. This buffer allows UBS to announce a dividend increase of around 15% and to continue its $3 billion share buyback programme, which the bank plans to complete by the time it publishes its fourth-quarter results.

On profitability, the underlying return on CET1 capital (RoCET1) for the first nine months of the year stood at 16.7%, or 14.8% unadjusted. In both cases the figure exceeds the roughly 15% annual target UBS had set itself, confirming that the 2026 goal is within reach.

One figure still worth watching is the cost/income ratio, a gauge of operating efficiency for a group still absorbing Credit Suisse. Between January and September it stood at 69.6%: if that threshold is confirmed below 70% by year-end, as UBS expects, it would mean the integration process is not weighing excessively on the cost structure, in the very year the bank aims to complete it.