UBS to set out US growth plan, but not until early 2024

investmentnews.com:

UBS Group Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said the bank will give investors an outline of its growth strategy early next year and signaled the direction of plans to grow in the U.S., as the lender progresses with the integration of Credit Suisse.

The Swiss lender is currently working at “full speed” on the fusion of the two banks, including on implementing more than $10 billion in cost savings, Ermotti said at an event in London on Tuesday. UBS is “also preparing the three-year plan that we will announce in February,” he said. 

The announcement of a strategic update is an early sign that UBS is beginning think beyond the task of integrating its former rival, rescued with government backing after it came close to collapse in March. While some of Credit Suisse’s businesses in Asia and Latin America give UBS an immediate boost in terms of scale, it’s less clear how the wealth management giant will seek to grow in the world’s largest economy. 

“In the U.S., I think it’s very important to look at the integration of the investment bank and how those capabilities will allow us to give our client advisers, financial advisers, in the U.S. even more opportunities to help clients to monetize or go through an M&A transaction for their own businesses,” Ermotti said. “We now have finally critical mass in the U.S. in terms of bankers and also we look at ways to diversify revenue streams in our wealth management business in the US.”

Half of the savings planned for the merger will come from winding down infrastructure and IT related to Credit Suisse’s loss-making investment bank and from the exit of legacy businesses that UBS doesn’t see as compatible with its strategy, Ermotti said. 

“We put as a priority the noncore legacy cost