UBS Group AG has signalled it will shutter roughly two-thirds of Credit Suisse’s investment bank — including many trading operations — as it looks to exit businesses that don’t fit its existing strategy.
(Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG has signalled it will shutter roughly two-thirds of Credit Suisse’s investment bank — including many trading operations — as it looks to exit businesses that don’t fit its existing strategy.
The Swiss lender has put $17 billion of risk-weighted assets from Credit Suisse’s investment bank into its wind-down unit at the end of June, according to a presentation Thursday as part of the bank’s second-quarter earnings. About $9 billion will be retained in the core investment bank. The figures exclude assets tied to operational risk.
The one-third UBS does plan to keep is largely made up of the mergers and acquisitions and capital markets business, as well as some parts of the research function although it will also look to build out capabilities in the areas of trading it has retained, a person familiar with the matter said. The $9 billion figure is about 13% of UBS’s existing allocation to the overall investment banking business.
In total, $55 billion of RWAs were moved into the non-core arm, including $36 billion from Credit Suisse’s capital release unit and wealth and asset management divisions, according to the presentation.
UBS executives have said they want to cut back riskier trading operations and will be “extremely selective” in taking on trading and derivative assets, while minimizing losses from disposals. The bank expects to have its integration and run-off of unwanted assets largely completed by the end of 2026.
For example, UBS is planning to exit billions of dollars in more complex and higher-risk structured loans to Credit Suisse’s clients in the Asia Pacific region, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.
Read More: UBS to Dispose of Risky Credit Suisse Loans to Asian Clients
Earlier this month UBS announced that it was terminating an agreement with the Swiss government in which the state guaranteed up to $10 billion of losses that could stem from the acquisition of Credit Suisse assets. That step gave UBS more flexibility in its plan for its non-core unit. It also removes the obligation to report to the government on the management of assets covered by the state backstop.
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