Very, very good. I think that if I look at the overall profitability, particularly when looking at the core underlying profits being up 25% year on year, with wealth management businesses in every region growing on a PBT basis double digits, very strong. And I see good inflows in our alternative business in asset management reaching 300 billions of assets in markets. We delivered the second best quarter on record. So I think that's across the board. In Switzerland, we continue to be a stronger partner to our clients, with 40 billions of new credits. So across the board making good progress on the integration, big milestones achieved. 400,000 clients were migrated in Switzerland in a smooth way. We are now working on delivering the second wave in the third quarter and in non-core and legacy assets, we are making good progress and taking down cost. So I am very pleased.
So even ahead of expectations in terms of integration?
We are on line, we are on track. I mean the integration, I think we already achieved nine billions of cost savings out of the 13. So we believe between now and year end we're going to achieve another billion or so, and then three billions are going to come in 2026 as we basically shut down all the legacy systems and we also complete all the logistical migrations.
Is UBS seriously looking at possible new headquarter?
Look, what we are right now, we are very focused on serving our clients, on delivering the integration. And our base case is that we are working also very hard to make sure that we can successfully operate out of Switzerland as a global bank.
But I mean, I guess the relationship between UBS and Switzerland looks from the outside. We are rock bottom. Do you need Switzerland?
I think that we have a very strong and solid relationship with our clients and the broader Swiss business community and client space. We serve more than two and a half million clients, probably even higher, 200,000 SMEs. So we have a very solid and embedded relationship with the communities where we live and work in Switzerland. So I would not really extrapolate some kind of issues to the broader Switzerland. The vast majority of the people recognize our value and we recognize the value Switzerland brings to us.
What do you think the probability of a change in headquarters today? And have you spoken to any regulators about it?
We're not going to speculate on this matter. As I said, we are very focused on making sure that any decisions that are taken are taken based on facts and based on real numbers and not based on theory of fears. And so the decision-making bodies that are asked to take this very important decision do it with all information and in an appropriate manner.
What could you do to, I guess, alleviate some of the capital requirements?
Well, it depends what is going to be at the end of the day. I think that, of course, we are now focused more on making sure that a true like-for-like comparison of the proposed regimes is done and hopefully somebody is also going to really look at a proper cost-benefit analysis before taking decisions.
But is everything on the table? I mean, could you sell off the US investment bank? Is there anything that you could get rid of to lower that capital requirement?
Look, our view on that matter is crystal clear. Shrinking is not an option. UBS and Switzerland benefit from our diversification. If you look at this quarter, Switzerland is performing well despite the very challenging environment around interest rates and the economic situation. So but we have offsetting businesses that allow us to benefit from this diversification. Having a global diversified business is a strength for us and for Switzerland. And shrinking is definitely not an option.
Given what you know now, is buying Credit Suisse still the deal of a century?
Well, if you look at the end result, it was definitely a pretty good deal for Switzerland. We were able to resolve major issues within a few days, stabilizing the system also thanks to the fact that UBS was there and was strong enough to be a credible counterpart. And this is not only to clients, but also to the regulatory community worldwide. If I look from an industrial logic standpoint, it's even more compelling if you look at what's going on in the competitive landscape. The combination of the two banks makes a very stronger case for a bank that is able to reach globally in our core activities. From a shareholder point of view, I think probably the jury is still out. And notwithstanding that, you look at how we deliver on our profitability, it is quite clear that there is a compelling story, but the capital uncertainty is quite costly to our shareholders.
What does that mean for dividends going forward or share buybacks?
Well, our dividend policy is still very clear. We want to continue to have a growth in our underlying dividends. We are, as we speak, accruing for a double-digit increase in our dividends. We are also executing on our capital return plans through share buybacks. And the new regulation in any case won't be coming into effect before 2027. So between now and then, we're going to have to really calibrate what we do. And for the future, we're going to assess the situation at the end of the year and communicate early on in 2026.
