Julius Baer Group’s assets under management (AuM) have reached new highs as the private bank reported an 11% rise in AuM on a full year basis.
At 31 December 2012, Julius Baer’s AuM hit CHF189bn ($207.6bn), from CHF170bn in at the same period in 2011.
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The bank reported more than CHF280bn in total client assets by 1 February 2013, with assets under management accounting for more than CHF200bn at the same period.
Pre-tax profits went up by 10% to CHF521m, while adjusted net profit increased by 8% to CHF433m. Excluding a one-off tax-related Germany payment in 2011, adjusted profit before taxes declined by 3%, adjusted net profit by 4% over the period.
The buoyant results were the result of a significant positive market performance, net inflows of CHF9.7bn, and a slightly negative currency impact, the bank said.
Total client assets, including assets under custody, grew by 7% to CHF277bn, from CHF258bn on a full-year basis.
Healthy numbers but a higher cost/income ratio
Julius Baer reported a 4.23% rise in cost/income ratios of 71% in 2012 from 68% in 2011.
The rise was the result of flat adjusted operating expenses, excluding the Germany payment.
Although the net new money (NNM) figure was near the top of the bank’s 4-6% range, it was a drop from the CHF10.2bn in NNM for the same period in 2011.
Rise in capital and tier 1 ratio due to Merril Lynch acquisition
By end 2012, the bank’s BIS total capital ratio stood at 31.6%, and its BIS tier 1 ratio at 29.3%.
The BIS total capital ratio was helped by the pre-funding of the acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s International Wealth Management (IWM) business outside the US, Julius Baer said.
The principal closing of the IWM acquisition took place on 1 February 2013.
Strengthening the Japanese private wealth business
Julius Baer disclosed it acquired a 60% equity participation in TFM Asset Management (TFM) in January 2013 in a bid to strengthen its presence on the Japanese private wealth market.
TFM is a Swiss registered independent asset management company which holds a few hundred CHF million of client assets and has offices in Tokyo and Zurich.
Julius Baer will take full ownership three years after the closing planned for April 2013.
Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
