UBS's investment bank trounced analysts' predictions in the third quarter – three years after Andrea Orcel took sole charge and stepped up the pace of restructuring – with a fall in advisory revenues despite a buoyant M&A market one of the few blots on the copybook.

UBS's third-quarter results at the investment bank, which were announced on November 3, showed a huge swing from a year earlier when a Sfr1.7 billion provision for litigation and regulatory-related issues dragged it to a pre-tax loss. Instead, the unit reported a Sfr496 million profit.