Higher interest income was not enough to offset lower transactional and recurring revenue at UBS Global Wealth Management, which saw profits dip in Asia.
UBS Global Wealth Management (GWM) in Asia registered a 13 percent decrease in pre-tax profit to $251 million in the first quarter of 2023, according to the bank’s results.
Total revenues fell 5 percent to $675 million, mainly driven by lower transaction-based and recurring net fee income which was partly offset by higher net interest income.
AUM Rebound
Nonetheless, the Swiss private bank is beginning to see a turnaround in its assets under management after a challenging 2022 that saw negative performance across asset classes.
UBS GWM's invested assets in Asia totalled $456 billion in the first quarter. This marks a $19 billion increase from $437 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, though it is still lower than $494 billion from a year ago.
Total fee-generating assets climbed $7 billion quarter-on-quarter to $121 billion, including a net new fee-generating asset growth of 18.8 percent to $5.3 billion.
