UBS's boss Oswald Gruebel said withdrawals by rich clients would stay at moderate levels near term as the Swiss bank beat forecasts by posting its strongest quarterly net profit since the crisis begun.
UBS turned in today first-quarter net profit of 2.2 billion Swiss francs (€1.53 billion), above forecasts, in a sign that Mr Gruebel's shakeout is finally bearing some fruit.
Switzerland's number one bank survived tbe crisis thanks to a state loan and was also embroiled in a bitter US tax fraud investigation.
Mr Gruebel said UBS was on track to meet its medium-term goals and added that he expected a "gradual improvement in wealth management and asset management results." He added that "net new money outflows are expected to be at relatively moderate levels in the near term, although we believe the steps we have taken to deal with the root causes of the net outflows will be effective."
Analysts had been expecting a bumper quarter after a number of upbeat announcements by Switzerland's largest bank.
UBS said the investment banking performance were driven by a strong rebound at its fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC).
The unit's revenues of 2.2 billion francs were more than four times what the division had made in the previous quarter as the bank began to win back market share.
Reuters