Brexit cost hikes dent Luxembourg bank profits
Luxembourg’s banks are not yet reaping the benefits of Brexit as Brexit-related additional costs are outstripping the rise in revenues. This has led to a year-on-year decline of 5.4% in banks’ profits in the third quarter of 2019, according to CSSF figures.
Luxembourg banks at the crossroads
“In 2018, 21 banks active [in Luxemburg] for more than three years had a cost to income ratio in excess of 100%, and there could be more this year,” CSSF director general Claude Marx said recently. As in the rest of Europe, Luxembourg’s B2C banks in particular are under diverse pressures. Some tough strategic choices are required.
UBS plans to wind down dedicated unit for the super-rich
Iqbal Khan, the new co-head of global wealth management at UBS, plans to break up the Swiss bank’s dedicated unit for the ultra wealthy. According to the Financial Times, this is part of an overhaul designed to increase higher-margin lending to some of the world’s biggest family offices.