UBS has made the largest quarterly profit in banking history after its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse.

The $29bn (£22.8bn) in earnings for the three months to June come after the addition of Credit Suisse’s balance sheet after it was acquired by rival UBS for just $3.3bn in a shotgun wedding ordered by regulators amid a banking crisis in March.

It means UBS now commands around $5trn in assets as its chief executive Sergio Ermotti tries to manage one of the largest mergers ever in finance. 

Underlying profit before tax - which excludes the negative goodwill from the Credit Suisse deal - was $1.1bn.

UBS’s share price has gained 30pc this year, making it the best-valued major European lender. The accounting gain for the quarter eclipses JPMorgan’s $14.3bn profit in the first quarter of 2021, the modern record for US and European lenders.

UBS also said it would fully absorb the lucrative Swiss unit of Credit Suisse into its operations, despite a likely backlash in Switzerland where it could result in the loss of thousands of jobs.

UBS could have spun off the business and floated it in an IPO but the domestic bank has been a solid profit-maker for Credit Suisse and last year it was the only division in the black.

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