I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.UBS reported strong Q2 earnings, with pre-tax profit rising 64% to $3.6 billion, beating expectations as Credit Suisse integration nears completion. The bank achieved $12.6 billion in cost savings and is shifting focus to growth in wealth management, which attracted $73 billion in net inflows H1. Management remains confident in meeting 2026 targets and announced a new $3 billion share buyback program.
UBS beat second-quarter earnings expectations as the integration of Credit Suisse entered its final phase. With most of the heavy lifting complete, the world’s largest wealth manager is increasingly turning its focus back to growth.
UBS reported second-quarter pre-tax profit of $3.6 billion, up 64 percent from a year earlier, while net profit reached $2.8 billion, comfortably beating analysts’ expectations. For the first six months of 2026, the Swiss banking giant generated $7.4 billion in pre-tax profit and $5.8 billion in net profit.
The results reinforce management’s confidence that the acquisition of Credit Suisse is beginning to deliver the financial benefits promised when the rescue deal was completed more than three years ago.
«A Trophy We Had to Earn»
Group Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti described the integration as one of the defining achievements of the bank’s recent history.
«From the beginning, I made it clear that acquiring Credit Suisse was not a gift to UBS, but rather a trophy we first had to earn,» he said.
According to Ermotti, the journey has not been straightforward, but the combined bank is now beginning to reap the rewards of the extensive restructuring programme. UBS said it remains on track to exceed its 2026 profitability targets on an exit-rate basis while achieving its cost-efficiency objectives.
Integration Enters Final Phase
The completion of the large-scale client data migration in Switzerland earlier this year marked the beginning of the final chapter of the Credit Suisse integration.
UBS has now achieved $12.6 billion in gross cost savings, representing around 90 percent of its target of $13.5 billionby the end of this year. During the second quarter alone, the bank generated a further $1.1 billion in gross savings.
The technology integration is also nearing completion. More than 90 percent of legacy applications are no longer in use, while around 70 percent have already been fully decommissioned, significantly reducing operational complexity across the group.
With the largest integration milestones behind it, UBS is expected to devote increasing management attention and capital to organic expansion across its global wealth management franchise.
Wealth Management Remains the Growth Engine
The group’s core wealth management business continued to deliver robust growth.
Global Wealth Management attracted $36 billion in net new assets during the second quarter and $73 billion during the first half of the year, while Asset Management generated an additional $20 billion of net inflows over the same period.
Invested assets reached a new record of $7.3 trillion at the end of June. UBS highlighted particularly strong client inflows from Switzerland, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, underlining the strategic importance of the region for the bank’s future growth ambitions.
Capital Returns Resume
With the integration progressing largely as planned, UBS is also stepping up capital returns to shareholders.
After completing its previous share repurchase programme in July, the bank announced a new share buyback programme of up to $3 billion, scheduled to run until the end of the second quarter of 2027. UBS plans to repurchase at least $1 billion of shares over the next three months.
The combination of stronger earnings, record client assets and a largely completed integration leaves UBS entering what is likely to be a new phase of its post-Credit Suisse strategy—one increasingly focused on expanding its global wealth management franchise rather than integrating the one it acquired.