Julius Baer says it has credit exposure to very few clients hit by sanctions

[ZURICH] Julius Baer has credit exposure to a low-single-digit number of clients subject to the recently introduced sanctions, the Swiss bank said on Monday (Mar 21) in an update on its exposure to the Russian market and Russian clients.

The exposure is in the form of mortgage loans at conservative lending values against residential properties in prime locations in Western Europe, as well as a marginal Lombard credit exposure fully covered by pledged liquid assets collateral, the bank said in a statement.

It said it was complying with all national and international sanctions and does not on-board new clients with a Russian residence since the invasion of Ukraine.

The bank said the collateral value of Russian assets, including those traded on markets outside Russia, was reduced to zero in February 2022, without this leading to any credit losses to date.

"The group is further monitoring settlement risks related to certain open transactions with Russian financial institutions related to Russian securities, such as market closures, the imposition of exchange controls, sanctions or other measures which may potentially delay or impair the counterparties'ability to honour such claims," it said, adding its market risk exposure to Russia was not significant and tightly managed. REUTERS