The global wealth management business posts net new fee-generating assets in the region but earnings and revenues fall on lower transaction income.
UBS's performance in the Asia Pacific region in the third quarter showed significant contrasts according to disclosure materials published Tuesday.
In its regional global wealth management business, Switzerland's largest bank reported net new fee-generating assets totaling $6.6 billion. When annualized, that represents a growth rate of more than a quarter - or 25.3 percent. Pre-tax profit, however, decreased by $56 million to $237 million on a 12 percent decline in revenues, which were at $620 million. The bank indicated that falling transaction-based income was mostly responsible for the drop in revenues.
In addition, the wealth management business in the Asia Pacific region recorded a 10 percent decline in lending in the third quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, which was a result of $3.3 billion in outflows of net new loans, reflecting deleveraging by clients as a result of market uncertainty.
Other businesses
In the asset management business, the level of invested assets fell 22 percent to $142 billion in Asia Pacific in the third quarter from a year earlier and was 8 percent lower than in the second quarter.
In the investment bank, lower exchange-traded volumes in the Asia Pacific business were named as a significant component of the decline in execution services revenues.
In the media release, the bank indicated that it had placed first regionally in equity capital markets for non-domestic banks.
Outlook
UBS CEO Ralph Hamers, however, remained optimistic about future developments, saying: «In APAC, we see strong growth opportunities and took steps to expand our Global Family and Institutional Wealth business in Southeast Asia».
The outlook in the full quarterly report was somewhat more circumspect, indicating that the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions in the Asia Pacific region continued to «add uncertainty to future economic and market developments».
