ZURICH – Swiss bank UBS Group (NYSE: UBS) is running around six months ahead of schedule in its cost savings efforts and its integration of Credit Suisse, CEO Sergio Ermotti said on Tuesday.
UBS is making market share gains and its investment bank is developing as expected, Ermotti said at a Bank of America conference.
“When I look at cost progress, when I look at non-core legacy assets wind down and simplifications, we are, I would say, around six months out of schedule,” Ermotti said.
“I would say that we are in a good trajectory. And honestly, I think that things are going pretty well.”
UBS bought Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.54 billion) last year in a government-engineered takeover after the bank ran aground following a series of scandals and losses that triggered a liquidity crisis.
The deal left Switzerland with a single global bank, one boasting a balance sheet around twice the size of the country’s annual economic output and triggering fears about UBS’s market dominance.
Ermotti said UBS had completed the legal entity mergers of Credit Suisse, with 80 regulators providing 180 approvals globally.
“This is very much the prerequisite to tackle the next round of cost reductions,” Ermotti said.
UBS Group (NYSE: UBS) shares reacted positively to the update, rising 3.5% in morning trading.
Still, it could take some time for cost savings from client data integration for example to materialize, Ermotti said.
“Well, unfortunately, you won’t see too much more cost savings coming through before the late part of 2025 and going into 2026, because (of) the fact that we are still running two banks, two systems, two infrastructures,” he said.
UBS was now seeing market share gains in areas like equities and foreign exchange, as well as the advisory service provided by its investment bank, particularly in the United States, Ermotti said.
“We saw a very constructive environment in terms of volatility in markets in the second quarter,” Ermotti said while noting the third quarter would be a “little bit more challenging” when it came to deal-making.
($1 = 0.8477 Swiss francs)
(Source: ReutersReuters)
