Good news for bank shareholders as UBS profits rocket

Investors in battered bank shares were given some hope today when UBS posted a 99% leap in profits and set aside $2.5 billion (£1.9 billion) for shareholders.

Like other banks across the world, the Swiss giant has been banned from paying dividends by regulators concerned about the strength of balance sheets in the mist of the pandemic.

UBS expects that restriction to be lifted, freeing it to return cash. That could also be good news for banker bonuses. There are 5,700 UBS staff at the Broadgate offices in London, led by UK chief Beatriz Martin.

UBS made profit of $2.1 billion in the third quarter, up 99% year on year. That was thanks to strong trading revenues from the investment bank and good returns from the wealth management arm.

The results are the best third quarter figures for a decade.

UBS expects to pay a $1 billion dividend next April and spend $1.5 billion in share buybacks.

The results are the last for CEO Sergio Ermotti, who is being replaced by Ralph Hamers from ING. Ermotti said: “It is very difficult not to be happy with this set of numbers.”

Revenues for the quarter rose 25% to $8.9 billion.

Credit losses were also much lower than expected.

UBS shares in Zurich were up 3% to e11.24.