According to the group’s fourth quarter and full year results, UBS Wealth Management reported a 4% increase in profit before tax to £1.8bn (CHF2.5bn) for the full year, in part driven by its highest net new money inflows in Asia Pacific region since 2007.
Over the same period, the group’s Wealth Management Americas division achieved a record year, producing just over $1bn.
In the fourth quarter, the wealth management division achieved pre-tax profits of £491m (CHF694m) on the back of both higher net interest and recurring fee income.
This improvement reflected recent initiatives by the group to grow lending and mortgage balances and increase mandate penetration. It was also the result of higher invested assets.
These increases were offset by declines in transaction-based income, which fell, the group said: “after a very strong third quarter”.
“Net new money flows from clients in Asia Pacific, ultra high net worth clients globally and clients of the domestic business in Europe remained buoyant, but were partly offset by expected cross-border outflows in Europe,” UBS said.
In total, UBS saw £2.1bn (CHF3.0bn) in net new money.
At a group level, UBS reported £681m (CHF963m) in net profit attributable to shareholders, for the quarter. For the year to end 2014, UBS reported a 13% jump in net profit to £2.5bn (CHF3.6bn). The group also doubled its ordinary dividend to £0.35 (CHF0.5)
In a letter to shareholders, chair, Axel Weber and CEO Sergio Emotti said: “At the start of the first quarter of 2015, many of the underlying challenges and geopolitical issues that we have previously highlighted remain.
“The mixed outlook for global growth, the absence of sustained and credible improvements to unresolved issues in Europe, continuing US fiscal and monetary policy issues, increasing geopolitical instability and greater uncertainty surrounding the potential effects of lower and potentially volatile energy and other commodity prices would make improvements in prevailing market conditions unlikely.”
Fine
UBS also confirmed it is involved in a fresh investigation by American authorities after it allegedly sold products to help US citizens evade tax.
The Swiss bank said it was co-operating with authorities. It is being investigated for selling “bearer bonds” and other unregistered securities, which are banned in the US.
The investigation comes a few months after the group was fined more than £233m for failing to manage foreign exchange trading risks – it was one of five banks fined.
