The Swiss bank tapped out a three-year buyback of its own shares shortly after launching a new 2024 program.
Zurich-based UBS bought 156,632,400 of its own shares for 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion), it said in a statement on Wednesday. Representing roughly four percent of the bank's outstanding capital, these shares are to be canceled following approval at UBS' April 8 shareholder meeting – concentrating profits on fewer investors.
CEO Ralph Hamers last week launched a new program to follow up on the previous one under his predecessor, Sergio Ermotti. Under the new program, UBS wants to repurchase as much as 4 billion francs in its own shares. While the new buyback dwarfs the 2018 one, the wealth manager cut its dividend by nearly half, to 37 cents per share.
