ZURICH: UBS posted a 9% rise in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday, as continued trading helped the world's largest wealth manager to its best quarterly profit since 2015.
Its third-quarter net profit of $2.279 billion easily surpassed a median estimate of $1.596 billion from a poll of 23 analysts compiled by Switzerland's largest bank.
"Our business momentum, our focus on fueling growth, on disciplined execution and on delivering our full ecosystem to clients - all of this led to another strong quarter across all of our business divisions and regions," Chief Executive Ralph Hamers said in a statement.
In each of the last four quarters, UBS saw double-digit percent gains in net profit as buoyant markets helped it generate higher earnings off of managing money for the rich.
From July through September, favourable market conditions and higher lending and trading amongst its wealthy clientele unexpectedly helped raise earnings over the bumper levels reported in the third quarter of last year.
The profit hike comes on the heels of a stellar quarter for US and British banks which, encouraged by economic rebounds, released cash set aside for pandemic losses.
A record wave of dealmaking activity also bolstered results for the likes of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
Pre-tax profit for UBS's investment banking division jumped 32%.
A rise in dealmaking offset a 7% drop in global markets trading revenues that came after results in the prior year period were boosted by a one-off gain.
Its flagship wealth management business saw pre-tax profit rise 43%.
Switzerland's biggest bank also said it wants to build a digitally scalable advice model for affluent clients in the Americas as part of its 2025 vision, to be presented in February.
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