(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 08, 2019 a pedestrian walks past the logo of Swiss banking giant UBS engraved on the wall of its headquarters in Zurich.
fabrice coffrini/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
UBS Group AG’s second-quarter net profit came in above expectations, boosted by the performance of its investment-bank arm, despite the bank booking higher credit losses for the quarter.
Net profit for the period fell 11% to $1.23 billion, the Swiss bank said Tuesday.
Credit losses for the quarter jumped to $272 million from $12 million a year earlier.
The results compare with analysts’ expectations of a profit of $973 million and credit losses of $256 million.
UBS UBSG, +2.44% UBS, +2.91%, the largest wealth manager by assets, expects to report high credit losses for the second half of the year due to uncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic. However, these should be smaller than the first-half level.
The bank’s operating income for the quarter was $7.40 billion, down from $7.53 billion a year earlier.
UBS’s investment bank operations had a strong performance in the quarter, achieving a 43% increase in pretax profit on the back of strong client activity amid the volatility sparked by the pandemic.
Pretax profit rose 1% at the bank’s key wealth-management business.