UBS to buy back up to US$6b of shares over 2 years

[LONDON] UBS Group said it will buy back as much as US$6 billion of stock over the next 2 years as part of plans to boost shareholder returns.

The Swiss lender expects to make up to US$5 billion of repurchases under both the now-concluded 2021 and the new 2022 repurchase programmes by the end of the year, according to a statement from the Zurich-based lender on Wednesday (Mar 30). The new US$6 billion plan begins on Mar 31.

UBS surprised analysts and investors in February with ambitious profit and cost targets and plans to increase its share repurchase programme after net income beat analyst estimates. The bank had already repurchased US$2.6 billion of shares as at the end of the fourth quarter under a previous buyback plan.

Ralph Hamers, embarking on his second year as chief executive officer, is giving investors more insight into his plans for the bank and boosting returns, after a move earlier this year to revamp the digital offering by buying robo-adviser Wealthfront for US$1.4 billion.

Many European lenders are increasing buybacks and their dividends after exiting the pandemic with lower loan losses than expected and benefiting from a surge in trading and deal-making.

Italian bank UniCredit intends to return at least 16 billion euros (S$24.1 billion) to shareholders by 2024, rolling out one of Europe's most ambitious payout plans, while lenders such as Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and BNP Paribas are also boosting payout targets. BLOOMBERG