Our financial strength

We have a strong capital position, maintain a sustainable business model centered around risk-adjusted profitability and have a robust risk-management framework.

Our financial strength is core to our strategy and one of the reasons why we were able to answer the call to help stabilize the financial system both in Switzerland and around the world in March 2023 through the acquisition of Credit Suisse. The transaction succeeded not only in restoring financial stability and preventing contagion, but also in strengthening Switzerland’s role as a global leader in wealth management. We are confident it will also create enduring value for our clients and shareholders. 

 

Here's what you should know

  • Since completing the acquisition of Credit Suisse in June 2023, we immediately focused on stabilizing the Credit Suisse franchise while swiftly executing on our integration plans which we aim to substantially complete by the end of 2026. This focus resulted in UBS achieving underlying profitability in 2023 despite Credit Suisse being structurally loss-making.
  • Since the acquisition through to 2Q24 we have stabilized, successfully won back, retained and grown client assets, as clients entrusted us with USD127bn of net new assets in Global Wealth Management (GWM) and 71bn in net new deposits in GWM and Personal & Corporate Banking (P&C).
  • We have a strong capital position and maintain a balance sheet for all seasons, with USD 198bn of total loss absorbing capacity, a CET1 capital ratio of 14.9% and a CET 1 Leverage ratio of 4.9% as of 2Q24. We expect our CET1 capital ratio to remain ~14% and CET1 leverage ratio >4.0%.
  • We remain disciplined in managing resources across the firm. For example, the Investment Bank consumes no more than 25% of Group risk-weighted assets (RWA) and in 2023 we established our Non-core and Legacy (NCL) unit to exit positions and businesses that are not aligned with our strategy and risk appetite. We continue to work at pace to run down NCL, having already reduced RWA and our leverage ratio denominator (LRD) by 42% and 64%, respectively, from 2Q23 to 2Q24.
  • Where liquidity and funding is concerned, our strategic objective is to balance efficiency with resiliency and safety. We maintain liquidity levels that are among the highest in the industry with a liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of 212%, USD 378bn in high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) o/w USD 248bn cash at central banks as of 2Q24. We are also executing on a funding plan that drives significant funding and cost efficiencies over the next three years through to 2026.
  • We have a high-quality loan portfolio of USD 599bn with 92% of loans in GWM and P&C combined being collateralized.
  • Our financial strength is reflected in our ratings from the major credit rating agencies.
  • We paid a dividend of USD 0.70/share for FY23, a 27% increase year on year. For FY24 we are accruing for a mid-teen percentage increase in the dividend per share. We re-commenced share buybacks in June 2024 following the merger of our parent banks, UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG, and expect to repurchase up to USD 1bn for FY24. Our ambition is for share repurchases to exceed our pre-acquisition levels by 2026, subject to our assessment of any proposed requirements related to Switzerland’s ongoing review of its regulatory regime.
  • In February 2024, we announced our performance targets and capital guidance for the Group. The graphic below shows our updated financial targets, capital guidance and long-term ambitions.

 

This graphic shows our financial targets, capital guidance and long-term ambitions. Our financial targets include a 2026 exit rate underlying return on CET1 capital of ~15% and a 2026 exit rate underlying cost / income ratio of <70%. Our capital guidance is for a CET1 capital ratio of ~14% and a CET1 leverage ratio of >4.0%. Our long-term ambitions include a reported return on CET1 capital of ~18% by 2028 and invested assets in Global Wealth Management to be >USD 5trn by 2028.

Find out more

Read what our leaders had to say about our strategy and our capital position.