On Tuesday, UBS, a banking giant from Switzerland, reported $770 million in 4Q24 net profit, with plans to launch a $1 billion share buyback campaign in 1H25.
Analysts poll from LSEG estimated the bank net profit at $886.4 million, while the company consensus forecast put the net profit at $483 million.
Revenue for the quarter reached $11.635 billion compared to the LSEG poll’s $11.64 billion estimation.
UBS also announced a $1 Billion share repurchase in 1H25, with an additional $2 billion buyback to follow in 2H25.
After overcoming the Credit Suisse fiasco in 2023, UBS aims to carry out at least $7.5 billion out of a total of $13 billion in cost savings by the end of the previous year. CEO Sergio Ermotti signaled that a job cut is inevitable as part of the process, even if the bank intended to rely on voluntary resignation.
The belt tightening of the Swiss bank giant highlighted a broader trend of cost saving across Europe’s banking sectors, as the European Union set out to slash its interest rate along with its U.S. peers. On Monday, another Swiss bank Julius Baer announced additional $120 million in gross savings, while U.K.’s HSBC said that it would tone down its M&A and equity capital markets operations in Western hemisphere.
