The Swiss bank UBS has achieved a significantly higher profit in the last quarter than a year earlier. UBS benefited, inter alia, from increased revenues from trading on financial markets and sales of business units. The net profit was 2.1 billion dollars, which is twice as much as a year earlier. Analysts had estimated an average of nearly 1.6 billion dollars. UBS set aside $89 million for losses on bad loans, which is much less than earlier this year and also lower than expected. The largest asset manager in the world announced that it would spend 1.5 billion dollars to buy back its own shares from next year. In addition, UBS wants to pay out $1 billion in dividends. ING’s former manager Ralph Hamers will take over next month from topman Sergio Ermotti at the largest bank in Switzerland. Ermotti has been at the head of UBS since 2011 and has moved to Swiss reinsurer Swiss Re, where he will play the role of chairman.
