The world’s largest wealth manager attracted CHF29bn (£20.7bn, $30.3bn, €26.4bn) of net new money in the first three months of 2016 – dwarfing the CHF9.2bn expected by analysts.
Pre-tax operating profit at UBS’s flagship wealth management business fell 41% from the same quarter last year, to CHF557m amid tough market conditions.
APAC surge
The Asia Pacific region emerged was the most lucrative of the international wealth management division, attracting CHF15.5bn of net new money in the first quarter, compared with CHF3.8bn expected by analysts and CHF14.4bn in the same period last year.
Group-wide, the bank reported a larger-than-expected decline of 39% in adjusted pre-tax profits for the quarter to CHF1.37bn.
UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti blamed the profits slump on “exceptionally low client activity levels”.
Cutting costs
The figures come as UBS looks to cut costs by restructuring its wealth management business, according to an internal staff memo seen by Reuters.
The move, which aims to save the bank hundreds of millions of dollars, will combine separate wealth management back office functions into one umbrella unit.
UBS is also merging its wealth management divisions covering Europe and emerging markets into a new unit to be headed up by emerging markets head Paul Raphael.
