UBS seen focusing on growing advisory business

ZURICH: UBS Group AG plans to focus on growing its merger and initial public offering advisory business over the coming years to offset industry-wide headwinds in trading, said sources.

Across the investment bank, revenue might grow by several hundred million Swiss francs annually over the next three to four years, while it kept costs in check, according to one of the people.

The securities unit had total sales of 7.7 billion Swiss francs (RM30.58 billion) last year, in line with 2016 and below the 8.8 billion francs achieved in 2015.

In equities trading, the bank was targeting gains in market share as some European rivals retreat, while low volatility and increased regulatory demands weighed on margins across the industry, said the people.

The investment bank’s plan was being assessed by the su- pervisory board as part of its regular review, said the people.

The broader strategic focus of Switzerland’s biggest bank was expected to remain the same and the allocation of risk-weighted assets to the securities unit —the funds it could deploy — was unlikely to change, said the people.

“We review all our businesses with the board of directors on an annual basis," said a spokesman for the bank .

“We’ve always been focused on profit as opposed to topline and CCS has always been targeted as an area of growth, but with strict discipline. We don’t comment on revenue growth potential beyond our public targets.”

The corporate client solutions unit, which advises on dealmaking, was viewed as critical to service wealthy clients from the private bank, said the sources.