In an emergency takeover last year, UBS acquired rival Swiss lender Credit Suisse. This move is anticipated to save the bank $13 billion in expenses, some of which will come from combined IT systems.

Sergio Ermotti, the CEO of UBS, cautioned this week at an event that any delay in the IT and data integration strategy could negatively impact the savings.

"We are pretty convinced that our real risk is a delay, rather than are we able to execute or not," Ermotti added.

This year will see the start of the Credit Suisse to UBS client migration, with the goal of decommissioning 30% of the Credit Suisse apps by 2024.

According to Ermotti: "By integrating only 300 applications of Credit Suisse's out of 3000 applications, we are really reducing the risk of IT integration risks."

The CEO of UBS also conceded that the bank might fall behind competitors in the battle for generative AI as a result of its focus on integration.

He addressed his audience, saying, "Yeah, there is a risk, but we are aware of that risk." "We already run 100 AI advanced technology projects, half-half between front and back, so we are on top of it."