(Reuters) – Zurich On Tuesday, after the Swiss bank beat expectations in its most recent quarter, UBS Group AG said that the coming year would be “uncertain” because of rising prices and higher interest rates.
The world’s largest wealth manager has begun a round of reporting for major European banks.Many of these banks have been cutting jobs and costs because economic growth is slowing down.
By doing this, UBS warned clients that inflation, rising interest rates, and the war in Ukraine were making the future uncertain and putting a damper on their mood. It said that lower asset prices and less customer confidence could hurt its business, but it also said that higher interest rates would help it.
The Swiss bank’s net profit attributable to shareholders went up by 23% to $1.7 billion for the last quarter. This was because costs went down, even though the financial markets went down. A poll by UBS of 21 analysts showed that the average estimate was $1.3 billion.
In a statement, CEO Ralph Hamers said, “We are in a strong position to start 2023.”
The net profit for the whole year was $7.6 billion, which was more than the average estimate of $7.3 billion.
Credit Suisse Group AG, a competitor in the same area, will report on February 9 that it has seen a quarterly pre-tax loss of up to 1.5 billion francs ($1.63 billion) because wealthy clients withdrew a lot of money after a string of scandals and losses.
Colm Kelleher, the head of UBS, has said that his company has not tried to take advantage of Credit Suisse’s problems.
UBS said it will buy back more than $5 billion worth of shares this year. In 2022, it will buy back $5.5 billion worth of shares.
It has also proposed raising the dividend for 2021 from $0.51 per share to $0.55 per share.
UBS said that it got $23.3 billion in net new fee-earning assets in wealth management, and Switzerland did very well in this area.
The bank’s home country got $8 billion in net new deposits from corporate clients and global wealth management in the fourth quarter. This is less than the $9 billion the bank got for the whole year.
“Even though the outlook for the economy as a whole is still uncertain, we are in a great position to serve our clients, fund growth, and give strong capital returns to our shareholders,” Hamers said.
