(News Bulletin 247) – UBS disappointed investors on Tuesday by announcing under its first quarter financial performance overall below expectations.

Its net income attributable to shareholders was thus reduced by 52% to 1,029 million dollars, giving a diluted result per share of 0.32 dollar, where analysts on average anticipated a profit of 1,709 million.

The Swiss banking group explains that its results were burdened by a provision of 665 million dollars related to a dispute concerning residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in the United States.

At the end of the quarter, its CET1 capital ratio stood at 13.9%, while the consensus was for 14.1%.

In its press release, UBS nevertheless claims to have maintained a “good momentum” at the level of its clientele by draining a net inflow of fresh money of 28 billion dollars during the quarter in its branch of wealth management.

Of this amount, seven billion dollars flowed in during the last ten days of March, in the wake of the announcement of the acquisition of Credit Suisse.

The establishment says it is fully focused on the operation, which it believes should be finalized during the second quarter of 2023.

The group, which stresses that the macroeconomic outlook remains ‘uncertain’, also believes that concerns about the stability of banks are still very much there, even if they
are attenuated.

Under these conditions, the levels of customer activity should, according to him, remain limited during the second quarter.

UBS also reports that it has temporarily suspended its share buybacks due to the proposed acquisition of Credit Suisse, while ensuring that it plans to resume them “as soon as possible”.

Following all these announcements, UBS shares dropped around 3% on Tuesday in the first trade, marking the biggest drop in the SMI index, after starting the session with losses of more than 5%.

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