UBS Q4 US sales rise by one-third

Sales were up 34% from the same period in 2020 when volumes stood at US$1.6 billion across 1,337 products, SRP data shows.

UBS topped the SRP league tables in terms of product issuance during Q4 21 and was followed by J.P. Morgan with 1,392 products (US$2.9 billion), Citi with 925 products (US$3 billion), and Goldman Sachs with 888 products worth US$2.7 billion.

The bank increased its issuance of structured products to single-share assets in 2021 with sales totalling US$4.6 billion across 5,816 products. This can be compared to its figure of US$3.2 billion in sales over 3,404 products.

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets also saw an increase in sales amounting to US$810m in 2021 from US$727m in 2020, while share baskets tripled in volumes to total US$1.2 billion in 2021.

Dominant underlyings during 2021 remained similar to those in 2020 including tech stocks Apple (325 products/US$559m), Amazon (221 products/US$370m), Meta (161 products/US$199m), and DocuSign (149 products/US$127).

Europe

UBS issued 627 non-flow structured products in 2021, largely across the German (367 products), Austrian (336), Swiss (123) and Italian (91) markets.

The products are mostly wrapped as certificates (566) and medium-term notes (61). Popular underlyings included Eurostoxx 50 (51), Daimler (33), Volkswagen (32), Axa (32), Infineon (19) and Allianz (17).

Several products feature a medium to long-term tenor of between three to six years while just 31 products have a short-term maturity of under a year.

Asia-Pacific

UBS was a derivatives manufacturer of 271 structured products during 2021 in the Asia-Pacific market, specifically across South Korea and Japan.

Top issuers of these products included Kiwoom Securities (87), NH Investment & Securities (62), Yuanta Securities (45), Samsung Securities (25) and UBS (22).

Dominant underlyings were Advanced Micro Devices (60), Tesla (60), Nvidia (39), Kospi 200 (36), Apple (35) and S&P500 (30). Several products were wrapped as equity-linked securities (ELS) while fewer products were wrapped as registered unlisted notes.

The bank was also the issuer behind 491 private placements in Taiwan while in Hong Kong SAR it launched some 6,737 warrants and callable bull bear certificates, a quarter of which were linked to the Hang Seng Index.

Business lines

Profit before tax for the full year of 2021 stood at US$9.5 billion, an increase of 16% including net credit loss releases of US$148m, compared with net credit loss expenses of US$694m in 2020. Operating income increased by 10% from 2020, with operating expenses up by eight percent.

Profit before tax for the fourth quarter of 2021 totalled US$1.7 billion, down by 13% from Q4 20, including net credit loss releases of US$27m.

Global Markets revenues increased by six percent during Q4 2, primarily driven by higher revenues in foreign exchange, capital market financing, prime brokerage and cash equities products.

Global Banking revenues also increased by fourth percent, driven by capital markets, notably in leveraged capital markets, and advisory revenues.

Asset management recorded a decrease in operating income of seven percent in Q4 21 from Q4 20, as an increase in net management fees was more than offset by a decrease in performance fees to a more normalized level from particularly high levels in 4Q20.

Risk-weighted assets (RWAs) amounted to US$302 billion in Q4 21, compared with US$289 billion in the same period a year prior.

‘Our fourth quarter was a strong finish to a year of sustained growth. We continued to implement our strategy and build our global ecosystem. And we’ll carry that momentum forward as we deliver on our strategic plans and ambitious new targets,’ said chief executive officer, Ralph Hamers (pictured).

Click to view the bank’s earnings release.