UBS Profit Surges 53% as Investment Bank Posts Record Revenue Year
The Swiss lender's full-year net profit reached $7.8 billion as underlying return on CET1 capital climbed to 13.7%, up from 8.7% a year earlier.
UBS Group (UBS) reported that full-year 2025 net profit rose 53% year over year to $7.8 billion, with underlying return on CET1 capital reaching 13.7%, up from 8.7% in fiscal 2024. The result marked the clearest signal yet that the post-Credit Suisse integration is translating into earnings power rather than merely cost savings.
The Investment Bank drove much of the top-line acceleration, delivering $11.8 billion of revenue for the full year — its strongest result on record — an 18% increase from the prior year. Return on attributed equity in the division reached 15% for the year. In the fourth quarter, Global Markets revenues climbed 17% year over year to $2.2 billion, with fixed-income, currencies and commodities up 46% and equities rising 9%, producing the strongest fourth-quarter markets performance the unit has posted.
Global Wealth Management, the franchise at the core of UBS's long-term strategy, generated $6.1 billion of pre-tax profit excluding litigation, a 23% year-over-year increase, while its cost-to-income ratio improved by more than three percentage points to 75.6%. Net new assets totaled $101 billion for the year, a 2.4% growth rate, with all four regions contributing inflows. In the Americas, the pre-tax margin widened three percentage points to 13%, and management brought forward its roughly-15% margin target to 2026 from a prior expectation of 2027, supported by seven consecutive quarters of loan growth. Asia Pacific delivered 30% pre-tax profit growth for the full year — the first complete period following the Credit Suisse client migration in that region.
Recurring net fee income in GWM rose 9% year over year in the fourth quarter to $3.6 billion as fee-generating assets grew to $2.1 trillion; transaction-based revenues were up 20%, led by structured products and cash equities. GWM net interest income increased 3% year over year and 4% sequentially in the fourth quarter, reflecting higher average loan and deposit volumes and a more favorable deposit mix. Management guided for GWM NII to increase by a low-single-digit percentage in 2026.
Group total revenues grew approximately 4% for the full year, reaching roughly $50.5 billion, with core business revenues up 8%. Operating expenses fell 2% year over year for the full year, and the fourth quarter delivered nine percentage points of positive jaws; excluding litigation, variable compensation and foreign exchange, fourth-quarter costs declined 7%. UBS raised its gross cost-savings ambition by $500 million to $13.5 billion by end-2026, running at an efficient cost-to-achieve multiple of 1.1 times; cumulative savings reached $7.5 billion by end-2024, or 58% of the prior target.
The Non-Core and Legacy unit continued to shrink, with risk-weighted assets falling to $29 billion at end-2025 from $52 billion a year earlier, and leverage-risk down 25% quarter over quarter in the fourth quarter to $19 billion. NCL operating expenses were down nearly 60% year over year in the fourth quarter. Credit-impaired exposures stood at 90 basis points at year-end, improving from 1.0% at end-2024, and the annualized cost of risk was 9 basis points in the fourth quarter.
The group CET1 ratio stood at 14.4% at end-2025, moving closer to the roughly-14% management target. The ordinary dividend was set at $1.10 per share, up 22% from $0.90 for the prior year, and UBS accrued $3 billion for intended share repurchases in 2026. The UBS AG parent bank standalone CET1 ratio rose to 14.2% from 13.3% sequentially, aided by $9 billion of capital upstreamed from subsidiaries as integration milestones were cleared. Group equity double leverage fell to 104%, down five percentage points from mid-2025, approaching the roughly-100% target.
Personal & Corporate Banking fourth-quarter NII declined 10% year over year on lower Swiss franc interest rates, though management modeled a mid-single-digit percentage increase in P&C NII for 2026 in dollar terms, supported by foreign-exchange translation and a liability management exercise. Asset Management posted $30 billion of net new money for the year, a 1.7% growth rate, with revenues up 4% on an 11% increase in net management fees and a cost-to-income ratio that improved to 66%.
*Source: UBS Group FY 2025 results release, Feb. 5, 2026.*