Following its forced merger with Credit Suisse on March 19, the Global Wealth Management Unit of UBS benefitted from a flood net of new client money.

The merger of UBS and Credit Suisse is expected to result in a behemoth wealth and asset manager, and so all eyes were on the first quarter results of the two institutions yesterday and today.

On Monday, Credit Suisse reported that in its global wealth management unit, clients moved 47.1 billion Swiss francs ($53.1 billion) of the wealth they previously had entrusted to Credit Suisse elsewhere. It is a different story at UBS.

Last Ten Days of March

«During the first quarter we saw strong net new fee-generating asset and net new money inflows in Global Wealth Management and Asset Management,» said group CEO Sergio Ermotti, in a statement accompanying first quarter results.  

The global wealth management (GWM) business attracted $28 billion of net new money during the first quarter, of which $7 billion «came in the last ten days of March, after the announcement of our acquisition of Credit Suisse». Those results should ease some of the concerns that assets being taken out of Credit Suisse are headed to other firms.

Moreover, UBS brought in $20 billion in new fee-generating assets in its GWM unit and $14 billion in its asset management (AM) unit.

Momentum in Advisor Recruiting

For UBS chairman Colm Kelleher, the Americas region is one he is focusing on a great deal and is vital to the group's growth plans. He should be pleased with today's results. The Americas GWM business brought in $8 billion of new money, adding there is also «continued momentum in advisor recruiting,» although no mention was made if any of those are coming from Credit Suisse. GWM in the region also attracted $4 billion of new fee-generating assets.

In Switzerland, new money inflows were $10 billion, while $8 billion in new fee-generating assets were reported along with $2 billion in new loans in GWM and P&C, according to the report. EMEA reported new money inflows of $4 billion into the region and generated $3 billion in new assets. Net interest income increased almost 60 percent on the back of higher euro rates.

Asia: Bright Star

Asia was also a bright star for UBS, bringing in $6 billion of net new money and $5 billion in new fee-generating assets, which marks a 17 percent growth rate over the past twelve months.

Overall invested assets for GWM were $3 trillion at the end of the first quarter, down from $3.1 trillion in the first quarter of last year. 

Credit Suisse Acquisition

UBS said it is focused on completing its acquisition of Credit Suisse in the second quarter of this year, which «will advance our strategy, particularly in global wealth management and Switzerland.»

UBS reported that net profit attributable to shareholders was $1.029 billion in the first quarter, about half of the $2.136 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Its Group CET1 ratio was 13.9 percent in the first quarter, down from 14.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.