UBS has given its 100+ new bankers a gentle target this year
UBS has got a lot more bankers than before. It also has more revenues. This year it wants growth again, and it should not be difficult to achieve that.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
When the Swiss bank announced its fourth quarter results this week, it reiterated its target of doubling its global banking revenues by the end of 2026 relative to 2022.
UBS aspirations are based on global banking revenues adjusted for 'Purchase Price Allocation', or the fair value of assets that came with Credit Suisse. On this basis, UBS's new bankers need to grow revenues by 16.3% this year if they're to meet the stated target.
This should be feasible and it might even be easy. As the chart above shows, UBS's bankers managed to increase revenues by 35% between 2023 and 2024, despite only managing 10% growth last year. Speaking on the bank's fourth quarter call, CFO Todd Tuckner said last year's feeble performance was the result of weakness in the equity capital markets (ECM) business in the first quarters. This is changing. In the fourth quarter, UBS's ECM revenues were up 68%.
UBS has no shortage of bankers to drive its 2026 growth. Speaking to Financial News in December, co-president of the investment bank Marco Valla said the bank hired 25 "senior dealmakers" globally last year, alongside the 100 it acquired earlier from Credit Suisse.
This year, those bankers need to an additional $444m of revenues to hit the target. Split between 125 people that's just $3.5m each. Given that people like Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick are "amped" about the year to come, UBS could probably be more ambitious.
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: comments are moderated intermittently by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You must take sole responsibility for comments you post on this site. We will take reasonable steps to weed out anything that we consider to be offensive or inappropriate.
