Swiss banking major UBS today posted a net profit of 2 billion Swiss francs for the quarter ended June on the back of an improved performance by its investment banking and wealth management segments.
The bank had reported a loss of 1.49 billion Swiss francs in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, it said in a statement.
UBS's revenue grew 59 per cent to 9.19 billion Swiss francs in the second quarter of the 2010-11 calendar year over the year-ago period.
"This was a good result in volatile market conditions and demonstrates the progress we are making as we move towards our mid-term targets. Our investment bank has improved its competitive positioning and profits in Wealth Management and Swiss Bank are stable," UBS Group CEO Oswald J Gr'bel said.
The Investment Bank segment recorded a pre-tax profit of 1.31 billion Swiss francs in the second quarter against 1.19 billion Swiss francs in the first quarter.
"Equities revenues were up nine per cent compared to the first quarter at 1.36 billion Swiss francs, demonstrating the strength of our largest flow business in unstable markets," the company statement said.
The Wealth Management & Swiss Bank business division's pre-tax profit was 1.13 billion Swiss francs in the second quarter.
"Our portfolio of businesses is increasingly able to generate competitive returns in a variety of market conditions and our risk management framework has proven robust," Gr'bel added.
In its outlook, UBS expects markets to be volatile and with little direction amid concerns on sustainability of the global economic recovery.
"We believe that this could lead to more subdued client activity levels across our businesses. In addition, we expect that our portfolio management fee income will be lower than in the second quarter due to the lower level of invested assets at the end of June," the bank said.