Swiss bank UBS said on Tuesday it had completed the first phase of the integration of bankrupt rival Credit Suisse and was benefiting from new net asset flows. In addition, the lender plans to restart its share buyback programs in the second half of the year, with up to 1 billion USD set aside for 2024. The bank also said it is proposing a dividend of 70 cents per share for 2023, up 27% year-on-year.
The cost of the Credit Suisse acquisition left the world’s largest wealth manager with a net loss of 279 million USD in the fourth quarter – slightly below the consensus estimate of a loss of 285 million USD in a company survey.
“With expanded scale and capabilities across leading client franchises and improved resource discipline, we will drive sustainable long-term growth and higher returns”, said the UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti.
The bank confirmed its key financial targets and set new ones, including an ambition for the wealth management division to achieve invested assets of 5 trillion USD by 2028.
UBS also said it aims to see net new asset inflows of 200 billion USD per year by 2028.
Sergio Ermotti said customers have confidence in the lender, with 77 billion USD in new net assets reported since the acquisition.
UBS also revealed that it is targeting 13 billion USD in cost savings by the end of 2026, with half expected to be achieved by the end of this year.
Since the surprise acquisition was announced last March, marking the first merger of two globally systemically important banks, UBS has managed to avoid major turmoil and has seen its share price jump by around 50%.
However, the bank still has to overcome some more difficult stages of the integration of the two banks, for example combining separate IT systems as well as its legal entities.
The bank will also begin migrating Credit Suisse clients, with clients in Singapore, Hong Kong and Luxembourg being the first to be moved.
