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Profits at UBS jumped 80 per cent in the first quarter, as strong trading and client activity fuelled by market volatility from the war in the Middle East lifted net profit to $3bn.
The Swiss bank benefited from a sharp rise in markets revenues, with higher volatility boosting equities and foreign-exchange trading, while its core wealth-management arm continued to attract fresh client inflows.
The record trading performance at the Swiss lender mirrors that of US rivals, which were able to capitalise on a frenzy of activity sparked by the US military intervention in Venezuela in January and the ongoing conflict in Iran to report some of their best results in years.
Underlying revenues in UBS’s markets division hit a record $3.2bn, almost a third higher than the same period a year earlier, the bank said.
The performance was driven by a 29 per cent jump in its equities trading business to $2.3bn, and a 38 per cent gain at its smaller fixed-income unit, which brought in $900mn.
Investment banking revenues also increased 30 per cent owing to stronger equity capital markets activity. That helped lift pre-tax profits from the investment bank to $1.2bn for the quarter, up from $696mn a year earlier.
UBS also said its strong capital generation kept it on track to continue share buybacks alongside dividends this year. The bank reported return on common equity tier one capital — a closely watched measure of bank profitability — of 16.8 per cent in the quarter.
Shares in UBS jumped as much as 5 per cent in early trading.
The better than expected performance came as UBS said it would continue to push back against tougher Swiss capital rules it argues would undermine its competitiveness.
The Swiss government last week laid out a set of proposals that would force UBS to increase its capital by $20bn, with Bern refusing to back down on the centrepiece of the reform package.
“We will continue to engage constructively and contribute to fact-based deliberations,” chief executive Sergio Ermotti said of the new regulation. UBS last week called the proposals “extreme” and “lack[ing] international alignment”.
UBS has been invited next week to brief Swiss lawmakers in the relevant economic committees alongside other stakeholders including Finma, the Swiss National Bank and industry groups.
These sessions come as parliament prepares to begin debating the new capital rules in June. Any proposal will require approval by both chambers, though Swiss officials and UBS have indicated a final decision is unlikely to be reached this year.
UBS’s key wealth management business also posted an 11 per cent rise in revenues to $7.1bn during the quarter, with the unit attracting $37.4bn in net new assets — a closely watched metric.
UBS said it had seen “higher levels of client activity . . . across all regions” in its wealth management business, a boost for the Swiss lender after the unit reported outflows in the US during the final three months of 2025.
The bumper trading performance at UBS was not matched at Deutsche Bank, with its fixed income and currency trading division delivering flat revenues compared with the same period last year.
While the German lender’s trading unit defied analysts’ expectations for a decline, it missed out on the gains of its larger rivals on Wall Street, which benefited from heightened volatility in equities trading — a business Deutsche has largely exited — while its results were also weighed down by a weaker euro.
Total revenues at the German bank rose 2 per cent from a year ago to €8.7bn, while net profit climbed 8 per cent to a new record of €2.2bn.
Provisions for credit losses jumped 10 per cent to €519mn across the group, with the bank flagging a “single-name exposure” that pushed up provisions at its investment bank.
Barclays on Tuesday also reported trading revenues from fixed income that were roughly flat.
Separately, Santander delivered net income of €5.5bn during the first quarter, a 60 per cent jump on last year thanks to a €1.9bn capital gain from the sale of its Polish unit.
Profits at its corporate and investment bank also rose 15 per cent on the same period last year.
