The UBS shares increased by more than 50 percent at the stock market within a year – a situation which was just as important for the accumulation of wealth of UBS’ top managers.

Profit of 136 Million Francs

According to the annual report published last Thursday, the 16 ­management members and twelve board members of the UBS group owned 15.3 million of their employer’s shares at the end of 2023. On the reporting date, this corresponded to a taxable value of 399 million francs.

If the UBS share price had remained stable throughout 2023, ­the 15.3 million securities would «only» have had a value of 263 million francs. The UBS share price rallies which were recorded in the months following the Credit Suisse (CS) takeover earned the top bankers a profit of 136 million francs, «SonntagsBlick» calculated.

State Support

The interesting thing here is: the massive book profits enjoyed by the UBS top tier would have been inconceivable without the CS deal.

To make the takeover possible, the government – with finance minister Karin Keller-Sutter at the forefront – took the risk with 109 billion francs. A further 100 billion francs in unsecured liquidity assistance was provided by the national bank.