UBS misses targets, dials back ambitions
Famous for wealth management, UBS suffered in Q4 as wealthy clients took $4.7 billion of their money elsewhere.
Tuesday's (January 21) update from the Swiss bank also shows that despite a near 130% rise in quarterly net profit it missed profit and cost targets for 2019, prompting it to dial back on some financial goals.
Like others, UBS is hurting badly from the low-to-no interest rate environment.
Competition from American rivals has been tough, too.
And though chief exec Sergio Ermotti told analysts on Tuesday that, quote, "quality beats quantity" when it comes to bringing in new money, the news is seen as a blow after he pivoted UBS away from investment banking to wealth management nearly a decade ago.
It has $2.6 trillion in assets under management. Earnings from those were up over 4% over the year, while its investment division saw profits nearly halve.
Its share price suffered too on Tuesday with a loss of 5.5% in morning trade, making it the biggest decliner on the STOXX 600 index.
