Reporting a large rise in profit and rising assets in its wealth business, the Zurich-headquartered group again set out the likely impact of proposed new capital rules from the government on its businesses.

UBS, which reported first-quarter 2026 financial results today, said Swiss legislative proposals to make it hold more capital means that it will need to add a total of $37 billion of Common Equity Tier capital. As reported here, the Swiss government continues to demand that the Zurich-listed lender fully capitalizes its foreign units. 

Explaining the figure, UBS said an incremental requirement of $22 billion necessitated by government proposals comes in addition to the $15 billion required for its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse three years ago.

The group has objected to the capital increase, arguing that this will hurt its ability to compete against international peers. Lawmakers in Berne, fearful of what might happen if UBS were to be hit by some kind of financial crisis, have called for newer, tougher capital rules. 

In its results for the first three months of 2026, UBS reported a profit before tax of $3.841 billion and an underlying pre-tax profit of $3.990 billion, surging 80 per cent year-on-year and 54 per cent, respectively.

At the end of March, UBS said its CET1 capital ratio – a standard international measure of a bank’s shock absorber capital – stood at 14.7 per cent.

“In the quarter, we also continued to execute our capital distributions, having repurchased $900 million of shares and accrued for a mid-teens growth in dividend. We are on track to buy back $3 billion in shares by the time we report 2Q26 earnings with an aim to do more by year-end, subject to our financial performance and outlook, maintaining a CET1 capital ratio of around 14 per cent at year-end, and visibility on parliamentary deliberations on the treatment of foreign participations,” it said.

Since the start of 2026, shares in UBS have fallen by about 12.8 per cent. 

Wealth management
Global Wealth Management net new assets for the quarter reached $37.4 billion, representing a 3.1 per cent annualized growth rate, with positive flows across all regions, supported by strong demand for the bank's discretionary mandates. Group invested assets were $6.9 trillion at the end of the quarter, with the effect of lower markets and changes to foreign exchange rates only partly offset by net asset inflows. Invested assets decreased sequentially by $85 billion to $4.668 trillion.

Among other details, global wealth management total revenues rose 11 per cent year-on-year to $7.106 billion, driven by higher recurring net fee income, transaction-based income and net interest income, partly offset by lower other revenues, and included a $40 million fall in purchase price allocation (PPA) effects and other integration items. 

Net credit loss expenses were $9 million, up slightly on a year before; operating costs rose 5 per cent to $5.305 billion. 

The cost/income ratio was 74.7 per cent, and 71.6 per cent on an underlying basis. 

CEO
“On the topic of Swiss capital requirements, we will continue to engage constructively and contribute to fact-based deliberations. These developments do not, and will not, change who we are as a firm,” Sergio Ermotti, CEO, said in a statement. “We remain committed to our diversified business model and our global and regional footprint. We are fully committed to protecting our shareholders while mitigating the impact of these increased requirements, if possible, on our clients, employees and the communities where we live and work.”

“We delivered excellent financial results and remain on track to deliver on our financial objectives for 2026. Having now successfully transferred all client accounts in Switzerland, we achieved another crucial milestone in one of the most complex integrations in banking history,” he added. “We are confident in substantially completing the integration by year-end, positioning us for further sustainable growth.”