UBS CEO Ermotti Signals Confidence in Beating 2026 Return Target

Sergio P. Ermotti, UBS's chief executive, used the bank's third-quarter 2026 earnings to signal that its profitability trajectory has moved decisively ahead of its own internal targets. A year-to-date return on CET1 capital of 17% is the headline figure, and Ermotti said the bank is now "increasingly confident" it can outperform its 2026 exit-rate return target.

That confidence matters in context. UBS has been absorbing the costs of integrating Credit Suisse throughout this period, meaning the 17% return figure is being generated while integration charges are still flowing through the profit-and-loss statement. Delivering above-target returns under that kind of cost drag is a meaningful signal about the underlying earnings power of the combined bank.

The second commitment Ermotti made is the cost/income ratio. He stated the bank remains on track for an exit-rate cost/income ratio of less than 70%, which is the efficiency benchmark the market has been using to gauge whether the Credit Suisse deal is working as promised. That ratio measures how many cents the bank spends for every franc it earns, so a sub-70% reading would indicate the enlarged UBS is running efficiently despite its expanded footprint.

Swiss lawmakers have been pushing for tougher capital requirements on UBS following the Credit Suisse collapse, a constraint on how much capital the bank can deploy or return to shareholders going forward. Investors watching UBS will want to track whether that regulatory pressure begins to bite against the operating momentum Ermotti is now openly projecting.