Let's talk about integration. You actually say you are on track to complete the integration by the end of the year. Now here comes the difficult bit. What are you telling your employees about job cuts and redundancies?
Well, this of course is probably one of the most challenging parts of the job. Three years ago, the task was to come in and get the entire organization mobilized around creating something positive out of a fairly tragic event. And you know, this is a process that we have been addressing over the last three years. I'm really grateful because without the full commitment of all the people involved at UBS and Credit Suisse, we would not have been successful in the integration. And people do know that we had to restructure Credit Suisse first and then integrate Credit Suisse into the bank, and that would have led to job losses. We managed this as sensibly as possible, also maximizing, for example, retraining and reskilling of people in the bank so that open positions can be filled through these redundancies. And you know, we are now getting close to the end. So a lot has already been achieved if you look at our numbers over the last three months. So I don't expect anything major to happen in the next three months. And as you mentioned, it's almost done. It's not yet done. So we need to really stay focused on executing the last mile. But I'm very grateful for the contribution of all my colleagues at UBS in making this a successful story.
It's been a difficult process, but at the same time you haven't given a final headcount target. Roughly how big will UBS be once all this is finished?
Look, I mentioned in the past, and I manage, we don't manage a budget at headcount. We manage cost. We had to basically address 13.5 billion of cost to be taken out. We achieved 12.6 billion of cost savings, and part of it was headcount. A big chunk was also technology footprint. We achieved a 94% decommissioning of the old Credit Suisse environment. So, real estate footprint. We are looking at cost optimization. We are not looking at headcount optimization, and I'd rather not focus on that topic.
Okay. You spent the last three years focusing on integration. Your shareholders have been rather patient. At what point would they start to see a full financial payoff from the deal?
Yeah, and you're right. Our shareholders have been quite patient, but also very supportive of what we've been doing on our end. We made very clear that delivering on our commitments to restore the profitability that UBS had before the acquisition, at the very least, was a top priority. And I'm very happy to see that we achieved that in the first half of 2026. We have now, if you look at capital return on capital deployed, UBS is now earning the same level of returns we had in 2022. This is really important to understand the task that we had to go through because, you know, people have been, particularly in the early stage, some people were talking about this is the deal of the century, was a present, was some very ridiculous statements that were done, which at the very beginning, you know, what could you know, I could understand. Nowadays they are quite outdated. And but you know, we are now back into that kind of profitability, and we have a stronger UBS, and of course, it's going to be a stronger bank in the future. So shareholders will be rewarded for that, but also clients will have a much better platform that we can give to them and serve them. Our employees will have a better platform from where to compete. So I'm very focused on balancing the benefits of everybody.
When you say deal of the century, do you have an internal return you have in mind you want to give back to shareholders?
No, we have an external target. Our target was to say, let's get to the level of profitability UBS had before the acquisition, and one that is sustainable. The most important topic for us is to have a sustainable return that is competitive compared to our peers, but also that, you know, makes us a safe haven. You know, our strategy is very clear. We want to run a bank that is very solid from a capital and liquidity standpoint of view, with a balance sheet for all seasons, but also with superior offerings in terms of content to our clients.
You've committed to a $3 billion share buyback. Are you confident you can complete the buyback regardless of the final regulatory outcome?
Well, we launched a new program at the end of the second quarter. We are on our way to implement, you know, we would say that we're going to do at least a billion in the following three months. I'm confident we will achieve that. And while also staying very focused on, you know, keeping a strong capital position and having also the resources necessary to invest in the business.
And speaking of capital position, there've been some reports that the Swiss parliamentary committee has taken a slightly softer stance to what was the original proposal. From your conversations you're having with policymakers, are you hopeful you will get a solution that UBS can live with?
Unfortunately, we don't have so many discussions with policymakers. We have, but of course, we are very happy to see that part of the parliament is trying to really put an effort to really understand the root causes of what happened with Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse, the current proposals are absolutely excessive, not targeted, not internationally aligned, and very little to do with what happened at Credit Suisse. So our focus is to help the people that really want to understand that to come to a decision, which we respect, that is based on facts and not on a motivation to create panic and the wrong approach to the bank.
I'm looking at numbers being proposed, roughly about 13 billion in additional capital compared to the original proposal of 20 to 22 billion. Is this something that's acceptable to you?
Well, look, there are different proposals on the table. It's not really clear what the outcome, and this is just a commission of the parliament that has been approaching that element. There are still extreme positions on the table by the same commission. So we are far from having a situation in which we can call an acceptable outcome. And as I mentioned, our goal is to contribute to a fact-based outcome that indeed protects the country and the taxpayer. But the taxpayer needs, they need to be protected in both ways. There is taxpayer, they need also to have a situation in which we can continue to be one of the most important contributors to the tax income. So, if you think about UBS and its employees, pays 2.5 billion of taxes in Switzerland. So, I think that part of the equation should be well understood when people talk about taxpayer protection.
Mhm. You're right. You know, there's a whole political process to go through with regards to the proposal. But is there a number you're looking at that would make UBS less competitive compared to its global peers?
But for sure, the number on the table right now is undoubtedly not excessive and not competitive and not acceptable.
So, you were looking for a figure below 13 billion.
