ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS said on Tuesday it had completed the first phase of integration of fallen rival Credit Suisse and planned to restart share buybacks in the second half, with up to $1 billion (930 million euros ) planned for 2024.
The Swiss bank also said it was proposing a dividend of $0.70 per share for 2023, an increase of 27%.
The cost of absorbing Credit Suisse led the bank to post a net loss of $279 million in the fourth quarter, slightly lower than the consensus provided by the establishment, which gave a loss of $285 million.
“With increased scale and capabilities across our core customer franchises and better resource discipline, we will drive long-term sustainable growth and higher returns,” Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said in a statement.
UBS confirmed its key financial targets and set new ones, including an ambition for its wealth management arm to have $5 trillion in invested assets by 2028.
The Swiss bank also said it was targeting a net inflow of new assets of $200 billion per year by 2028.
Sergio Ermotti said UBS clients had entrusted the bank with $77 billion in net new assets since the Credit Suisse acquisition.
UBS also said it was targeting cost reductions of $13 billion by the end of 2026, half of which is expected to be achieved by the end of the year.
Since the announcement of the takeover of Credit Suisse last March, marking the very first merger of two globally systemically important banks, UBS has managed to avoid any destabilization and has seen its share price jump by some 50%.
(Report Noele Illien; Stéphanie Hamel)
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