UBS earnings rise, but shares plunge as investor money flees

Swiss bank UBS Group AG has reported higher fourth-quarter net profit but seen its shares plunge on news that investor money is fleeing turbulent markets.

The Zurich-based bank cited "pronounced risk aversion" among clients as it reported 3.4 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion) flowed out of its wealth management arm serving clients outside the U.S. Outflows in emerging markets and Europe outweighed inflows in the Asia Pacific region and Switzerland.

UBS shares were down 7 percent at 15.51 Swiss francs in morning trading in Europe.

The share drop came despite a 10 percent rise in net profit in the October-December quarter to 949 million francs, from 858 million francs in the same period a year earlier.

The result beat estimates for 867 million francs compiled by financial information provider FactSet.

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