Swiss bank Julius Baer hit by market downturn during first half of year

JULIUS Baer reported on Monday (Jul 25) a 26 per cent drop in shareholders’ profit for the first half of 2022, as the Swiss wealth manager was hit by what it called “one of the worst 6-month periods for capital markets in decades”.

Net profit attributable to shareholders fell to 451 million Swiss francs (S$649.4 million), missing analyst forecasts for 477 million francs according to Refinitiv data.

The Zurich-based private bank said its assets under management shrunk 11 per cent to 428 billion francs, as it was hit by the downturn in global markets.

Chief executive Philipp Rickenbacher said the period had seen “unprecedented geopolitical events that had a deep impact on asset valuations and client sentiment”.

But the bank said there had been a “meaningful recovery” in net new money of 1.5 billion francs since the end of April, which compensated the outflow of 2.7 million francs in the first 4 months of the year.

Western European clients contributed to the inflows, the bank said, while the impact of Asian clients de-leveraging their portfolios reduced from March onwards, it added. REUTERS