UBS has best year since 2000

A GLOBAL pick-up in corporate deal activity over the autumn propelled UBS to its best year in investment banking since 2000.

Hundreds of City investment bankers at the world's sixth-largest bank are now expected to see bonus rises of around 20% as group net profit topped market expectations with a 29% annual rise to 8.089bn Swiss francs (£3.5bn).

A rebound in fourth-quarter equities revenue helped UBS's investment banking division to pre-tax profit of Swfr1.23bn, up 72% over the prior three months.

Full-year profits for the business rose 18% to Swfr 4.54bn, the highest level in four years.

Stripping out UBS's majority share in Swiss industrial company Motorcolumbus, which gave net annual profits of Swfr45m and UBS financial business rose 29% for the year.

Chief executive Peter Wuffli said: 'This is the best annual result in UBS's history. We believe it reflects our strong emphasis on growth.'

Headcount for UBS's financial business which includes asset managment and private banking rose 1,495 over the year to 65,929 at 31 December.

UBS's aggressive expansion of its private banking business coupled with a general recovery in financial markets since mid-2003 paid off with a 32% rise in pre-tax profits for the division to Swfr3.435bn.

Wuffli added that the bank remained 'committed to returning cash to shareholders through share buybacks, but seeking out attractive opportunities for reinvesting in our growth business will always be our first priority'.