Tom BurroughesHere is a summary of the results for the fourth quarter, and full-year, of 2012 for the world’s major wealth management firms. Not all of the institutions here are strictly comparable, so the results need to be interpreted with that point in mind. Some of the figures may, for various reasons, be subsequently revised.
UBS
Pre-tax operating profits at the wealth management arms fell in the fourth quarter of 2012 from the previous three-month period, while the firm overall reported a loss in the quarter but a full-year adjusted profit of SFr3.0 billion ($3.29 billion).
The quarterly loss had been expected after UBS in December last year was fined a total of more than $1.5 billion to settle charges of LIBOR interbank rate manipulation.The Q4 pre-tax loss was SFr1.823 billion, albeit narrower than the Q3 loss of SFr2.529 billion. The loss was primarily due to net charges for provisions for litigation, regulatory and similar matters of SFr2.081 billion as well as net restructuring charges of SFr258 million and an own credit loss on financial liabilities designated at fair value of SFr414 million.
For the whole of 2012, the wealth management businesses’ full-year net new money rose by SFr11.3 billion to SFr46.9 billion. As far as the whole of 2012 is concerned, USB logged an adjusted pre-tax profit of SFr2.1 billion in wealth management and SFr813 million in Wealth Management Americas.
Credit Suisse
The private banking and wealth management arm of Credit Suisse logged pre-tax income of SFr911 million (around $1.0 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, up sharply from SFr532 million a year before. Net revenues in this business segment, at SFr3.334 billion in Q4, were stable from the previous quarter of last year, reflecting a “significant” rise in transaction and performance-based revenues, offset by declines in other revenue sources, the bank said in a statement. Net interest income and recurring commissions and fees were flat.
Pre-tax income among the wealth management clients unit was SFr490 million, down 2 per cent on the previous quarter; net revenues were stable at SFr2.209 billion. On the asset management side, pre-tax income fell 18 per cent quarter-on-quarter to SFr183 million. There were net new assets in the private and wealth management arm of SFr6.8 billion in Q4, with wealth management clients contributing net new assets of SFr2.9 billion, particularly from emerging markets and from the ultra high net worth individual client segment, partially offset by outflows in Western Europe.
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