Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privée has had strong profit growth in the first half of 2017. Asset under management meanwhile remained flat in the six-month period, which was due to two factors.
Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) had net income of 109.4 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2017, an increase of 21.6 percent from the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement today. The bank profited from improved conditions on the markets.
UBP reported particularly strong growth of income from interest operations, which increased 18.5 percent to 139.3 million francs. The reason for this improvement were high U.S. dollar interest rates, the bank said.
Commission income also rose more than 10 percent, which UBP said was due to a rising amount of private client assets in advisory mandates.
Cost-Income-Ratio Improves
Operating expenses increased by 9.9 percent between June 2016 and June 2017, rising from 294.5 million francs to 323.7 million due to the integration of Coutts in Asia which was finalized in April 2016.
The cost-income-ratio improved to 63.5 percent at the end of June 2017 from 67.9 percent six months earlier.
Assets Under Management Remain Flat
Assets under management were almost unchanged at 118.9 billion francs at the end of the reporting period. The bank had negative exchange rate effects and lost some client assets in Latin America and Europe following the latest wave of tax regularization programs.
The inflow of money at the asset management division measuring up to 1.6 billion francs however sufficed to offset the outflows.
«The numbers from the first half of the year have been very encouraging,» said UBP CEO Guy de Picciotto, according to the statement. The numbers «reflect the substantial investments we have recently made in strengthening our teams and demonstrate the dynamism of our activities in Asia.»
