UBS reported solid second-quarter results on Wednesday, buoyed in part by strong growth in its wealth management business, though the Swiss bank saw its advisor headcount in the Americas fall. UBS says it ended the second quarter with 5,644 advisors in the region, down 2% from the 5,773 it reported a year ago.
UBS has been grappling with advisor attrition since it announced a reduced compensation plan in late 2024. Still, the company reported $36 billion in net new assets for its global wealth management division in the second quarter.
UBS reported total revenue of $13.7 billion in the second quarter, topping analysts' consensus forecast of $13.3 billion, according to FactSet. Total revenue for the quarter was up 13% from the $12.1 billion UBS reported a year ago. The company also announced a $3 billion stock buyback program to run through the middle of 2027.
Second-quarter profit at the bank checked in at $2.8 billion, up 17% from the nearly $2.4 billion profit UBS reported a year ago. UBS reported earnings of 87 cents per share for the quarter, up 21% from the year-earlier mark of 72 cents per share. Analysts were expecting earnings of 88 cents per share, according to FactSet.
Shares of UBS traded in positive territory in New York for most of Wednesday's session but were down 0.2% at about 3:45 p.m. ET. The benchmark S&P 500 index was down 1.2%.
Total revenue brought in by the Global Wealth Management business line, which includes the U.S. brokerage business, increased by $812 million, or 13%, from a year earlier to reach $7.1 billion. UBS reported that operating expenses for the division were up 6%, driven primarily by increased financial advisor compensation.
The bank says it is nearing the completion of the integration of Credit Suisse, which it acquired in 2023 through a government-orchestrated transaction. UBS says that it finished migrating all of Credit Suisse's client accounts to its platform in March and that it is almost finished decommissioning Credit Suisse's legacy information technology systems. UBS says it is "on track to substantially complete the integration by the end of the year."
Looking ahead, UBS says it expects net interest income in its global wealth management business to "increase modestly."
UBS says it completed a round of share repurchases this month and plans to complete the next round no later than the end of the second quarter of 2027. The bank says it plans to buy back $1 billion worth of shares in the next three months.
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