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UBS Profit Nearly Tripled in Third Quarter on Tax Benefit

UBS on Tuesday reported a profit of 2.07 billion Swiss francs, or about $2.1 billion, for the three months ended Sept. 30.Credit...Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

LONDON — The Swiss bank UBS said on Tuesday that profit nearly tripled in the third quarter as it booked a big tax benefit and recorded lower litigation and regulatory charges.

The bank, based in Zurich, also announced a reshuffling of its management team, and it appointed Tom Naratil, its chief operating officer and chief financial officer, as president of the company’s Americas business beginning next year.

The bank reported a profit of 2.07 billion Swiss francs, or about $2.1 billion, for the three months that ended Sept. 30, up from 762 million francs in the period a year earlier. That was better than analysts had expected, according to Reuters.

The third quarter included a tax-related gain of 1.3 billion francs, alongside 592 million francs in charges for litigation and regulatory matters, far less than the litigation charges of 1.8 billion francs in the period a year earlier.

“I’m pleased with the quarter,” Sergio P. Ermotti, the UBS chief executive, said on Tuesday in a news release. “We stayed close to our clients in a very challenging environment. Disciplined execution and our diversified business model allowed us to deliver strong returns for our shareholders while continuing to invest in our future.”

UBS said on Tuesday that it was one of several financial institutions to have received inquiries from the authorities investigating corruption charges involving officials of FIFA, soccer’s governing body. UBS said it was cooperating with the investigation.

Credit Suisse made a similar disclosure this week.

UBS, facing stricter capital requirements by regulators and tougher macroeconomic conditions, also said on Tuesday that it had revised several of its financial targets.

The bank said that it expected to achieve an adjusted return on tangible equity, a measure of profitability, of more than 15 percent by 2018. The bank has recorded an adjusted return on tangible equity of 14.5 percent so far this year, and the measure is expected to remain at roughly that level in 2016, it said.

As part of the management shake-up announced on Tuesday, Mr. Naratil will become president of the bank’s Wealth Management Americas and UBS Americas units.

Robert J. McCann, the current president of its Wealth Management Americas and UBS Americas units, will step down from the group executive board at the end of the year and will become chairman of UBS Americas, where he will focus on clients and strategic priorities, UBS said.

Kirt Gardner, the chief financial officer of the wealth management business, will succeed Mr. Naratil as chief financial officer, and Axel P. Lehmann will step down from the board and assume the role of chief operating officer. The two will begin the new roles on Jan. 1, UBS said.

In the third quarter, operating income rose 4 percent to 7.17 billion francs, from 6.88 billion francs in the same period a year earlier. Operating expenses fell 14 percent to 6.38 billion francs, from 7.43 billion francs in the third quarter of 2014.

Net interest income, the measure of what a bank earns on its lending after deducting what it pays out on deposits and other liabilities, fell 1 percent to 1.85 billion francs in the third quarter, from 1.87 billion francs in the same period a year earlier.

In recent years, UBS has shrunk its investment bank and shifted its focus to wealth management, an area it sees as more consistently profitable.

In the wealth management division, UBS said pretax profit declined 10 percent to 639 million francs in the period, from 707 million francs in the third quarter of 2014.

The result in the wealth management business was hurt by market volatility and “very low client activity levels,” particularly in its Asia-Pacific and European operations, UBS said.

The wealth management business in the Americas, which is operated separately, had a 6 percent gain in pretax profit, reaching $268 million in the quarter.

The UBS investment bank returned to a profit in the quarter, reporting a pretax profit of 496 million francs, after a pretax loss of 1.3 billion francs in the same period a year earlier.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Reshuffling, UBS Posts $2.1 Billion in Profit. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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