Banking giant UBS was cautious over prospects for the rest of the year after a seasonal lull in trading hurt its third-quarter profit, despite a strong showing by its wealth management operation.
But the world's seventh-largest bank said it was still on track to do better than last year, having already earned 94 per cent of 2003 net profit by the end of September.
UBS's net profit fell to 1.671 billion Swiss francs (€1.09 billion) in the three months to the end of September from €1.974 billion in the previous quarter and €1.685 billion a year ago.
UBS's shares, which have performed in line with the DJ Stoxx European banking sector index this year, were indicated around 1 per cent higher.
Pre-tax profit in UBS's investment bank fell 19 per cent from a year ago to €466 million, while in its huge wealth management unit it was up 20 per cent at €558 million.
Underlining the strength of its private banking franchise, UBS said clients invested a net new €10.9 billion with its wealth management operations, up from the €6.8 billion in new assets that came in during the second quarter.
But weaker markets left their mark on the investment bank, where income from equity business fell 6 per cent from a year ago, and from fixed income business fell 15 per cent .
UBS managed €1.47 trillion in assets at the end of September, up 7 per cent from a year ago.