The Switzerland-headquartered group reported stronger revenues in its wealth arm, while overall profits, attributable to shareholders, rose faster than analysts’ forecasts.

UBS today reported that its global wealth management (GWM) total revenues in the second quarter of 2026 rose by 13 per cent year-on-year to $7.112 billion. This was driven by all revenue lines, and included a $39 million fall in purchase price allocation (PPA) effects related to the Credit Suisse integration. 

Excluding $114 million of PPA effects and other integration items, Zurich-listed UBS said its underlying revenues rose 14 per cent to $6.997 billion.

Operating expenses rose 3 per cent year-on-year to $5.231 billion; this included a $155 million fall in integration-related expenses. 

The cost/income ratio of the wealth management business was 73.6 per cent at the end of June this year. 

UBS said wealth management invested assets increased sequentially by $274 billion to $4.942 trillion, and it logged net new assets of $35.5 billion in the quarter. 

The net new assets figure represents a 3 per cent annualised growth rate and contributes to a 6 per cent rise in invested assets from the previous quarter, led by robust flows in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

Looking ahead, UBS said that in the third quarter of 2026, and in addition to seasonal factors, it predicts that GWM net interest income will “increase modestly,” broadly in line with the sequential uptick recorded in the second quarter of 2026. 

“As we enter the third quarter, market conditions remain broadly constructive, supported by healthy client engagement, the continued broadening of market leadership and historically elevated equity dispersion. At the same time, ongoing geopolitical developments and volatile energy prices lead to high levels of uncertainty around the inflation and interest rate outlook. This could contribute to changes in macroeconomic conditions, periods of elevated volatility and more measured investor sentiment,” the bank said.

Group results
Across its business lines, the bank reported a pre-tax profit of $3.594 billion and $3,887 billion on an underlying basis, rising 64 per cent year-on-year and 45 per cent year-on-year, respectively. There was “broad-based growth” across each of its core businesses, led by global wealth management and the investment bank.

Net profit attributable to shareholders stood at $2.8 billion, up almost 17 per cent year-on-year from $2.395 billion in the same quarter a year ago, and beating a forecast of $2.39 billion in a company-provided poll of analysts (source: Reuters, 29 July). Since the start of this year, shares in UBS have risen about 11.2 per cent.

UBS said its Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of 14.4 per cent and CET1 leverage ratio of 4.4 per cent were above its guidance of about 14 per cent and greater than 4.0 per cent, respectively.

Reflecting on its capital position, UBS said it intends to repurchase at least $1 billion of stock in the next three months. 

“Our strong capital position allows us to continue deploying resources towards profitable growth opportunities to support clients and deliver on our capital return ambitions. This includes accruing for mid-teens percentage growth in our dividend in the second quarter,” it said. 

Integration on track
The bank said it completed the global migration of former Credit Suisse client accounts to UBS infrastructure in March. UBS said it delivered another $1.1 billion of gross cost cuts in the second quarter of this year, taking the cumulative gross cost savings since the end of 2022 to $12.6 billion. This represents more than 90 per cent of its total gross cost savings goals, keeping UBS “firmly on track” to achieve its ambition of total cuts of around $13.5 billion by the end of this year.