Running an investment bank is a well-paid but sometimes frustrating business.
At UBS, the investment bank president, Andrea Orcel, has presided over several quarters of more than 20 percent returns on equity, as rivals have barely managed half that. Yet in the quarter that just ended, UBS’s broker-dealer business squeezed out only a 4.4 percent return.
Since Mr. Orcel’s first full year in 2013, UBS’s investment banking revenue is up a bit, even as rivals have experienced declines. Full-year return on equity in 2015 was just below 26 percent.
