UBS Traders Trail Wall Street as Rally Shifts to Equities

Stock trading beat estimates but fell short of U.S. peers
Overall investment banking revenue gained on advisory unit

Illuminated UBS Group AG logos outside the company's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2020. UBS plans to buy back as much as 4 billion francs ($4.5 billion) of shares over the next three years, bolstering shareholder returns after income from managing client assets and investment banking propelled gains at the world’s largest wealth manager.Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

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By Marion Halftermeyer

January 26, 2021 at 4:55 AM EST

Updated on

January 26, 2021 at 8:04 AM EST

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A trading surge that lifted UBS Group AG’s profit last quarter still fell short of Wall Street’s performance, a sign that Europe’s investment banks may not have fully seized the equities-led rally.

Revenue from buying and selling stocks -- a traditional strength at the Swiss lender -- increased 28% to $1.07 billion in the fourth quarter. While that was higher than analysts had expected, it couldn’t quite match the 35% average gain for U.S. banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. UBS’s fixed-income revenue gain was half that of its U.S. peers.

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