Bank Sarasin saw net inflows of 17.9 percent
across its business in 2009 and is on track to exceed its target of
CHF100 billion in assets under management later this year.
Net new money for 2009 was CHF12.5 billion,
taking assets under management to CHF93.7 billion. The figures show
pure-play private banks continu
e to outstrip
their larger rivals – UBS registered net outflows of 6.3 percent,
while Credit Suisse’s net new money was 5.3 percent.
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Full-year 2009 profit before tax at Bank
Sarasin rose 11.7 percent to CHF146.5 million, driven by a 33
percent increase in fees and commissions in the second half of 2009
compared to the first .
Improved investment conditions and the bank’s
new fee structure, introduced in April (see PBI
254), contributed to fee and commission income of CHF228
million for the second half, up from CHF170.5 million in the first
half. Sarasin shifted to an all-in fee model after a strategy
review revealed its relationships with some clients were priced too
cheaply. It is part of a company-wide aim to increase the
business’s gross margin to 90 basis points (bps).
Gross margin at the year-end was 84bps, up
4bps from 2009. The profit figure of CHF146.5 million excluded
a CHF70.2 million write-down on its 40 percent interest in Neue
Zeurcher Bank (NZB), a brokerage business spun off by Sarasin in
2007. NZB has been under scrutiny from Swiss and US regulators for
allegedly urging wealthy US clients to hide money in Switzerland.
Its CEO was forced to stand down following a probe by FINMA, the
Swiss regulator, which focused on the bank’s role in transactions
in shares of Sulzer AG, an industrial company.
The bank previously said it was performing due
diligence on the acquisition of a majority stake in struggling NZB
to “secure the future of the business”, but these plans have now
been abandoned. Bank Sarasin and NZB will “continue to operate
completely independently” of each other, according to a
spokesman.
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By GlobalData“The impressive rate of growth we have
achieved over the past two years makes me confident of managing
client assets in excess of CHF100 billion as early as the second of
2010, as long as markets remain relatively stable,” said Joachim
Straehle, Bank Sarasin’s CEO (pictured).
“Given this backdrop, our main focus in 2010
is not to further accelerate our pace of growth, but to achieve a
sustainable improvement in profitability.”
