UBS posts bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as Credit Suisse integration costs pile up

UBS on Tuesday reported a bigger-than-expected third-quarter net loss of $785 million as it works to integrate fallen rival Credit Suisse.

Analysts polled by Reuters had anticipated the Swiss banking giant would record quarterly net loss of $444 million in a company-compiled poll.

The loss was driven by $2 billion in expenses related to the Credit Suisse integration, with the bank recording an underlying operating profit before tax of $844 million.

Here are some other highlights:

• Total group revenues were $11.7 billion, up 23% from $9.54 billion in the second quarter.
• CET1 capital ratio, a measure of bank liquidity, was 14.4%, unchanged from the previous quarter.

UBS completed its takeover of its stricken domestic rival in June and announced in August that it had ended a 9 billion Swiss franc loss protection agreement and a 100 billion Swiss franc public liquidity backstop that were put in place when the emergency rescue was agreed in March.

The bank’s shares soared to their highest point since late 2008 in August after its second quarter earnings results reported a $28.88 billion net profit as a result of negative goodwill on the Credit Suisse acquisition.

Negative goodwill represents the fair value of assets acquired in a merger over and above the purchase price. UBS paid a discounted 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.33 billion) to acquire Credit Suisse in March, in a deal mediated by Swiss authorities to prevent the collapse of the storied but scandal-plagued lender.

The stock price has since moderated slightly, but remains up more than 27% on the year.

UBS is also in the process of fully integrating Credit Suisse’s Swiss banking unit — a key profit center — and is expected to cut a hefty proportion of the legacy bank’s workforce.

The bank also announced earlier this year that it is targeting gross cost savings of at least $10 billion by 2026, when it hopes to have completed the integration all of Credit Suisse Group’s businesses.