ZURICH (Reuters) – Julius Baer on Monday said it was on track to reach its 2022 profitability targets, despite “challenging market” conditions taking a big bite out of its assets under management.
Assets under management decreased by 11% to 429 billion Swiss francs ($449.07 billion) in the 10 months to Oct. 31, Switzerland’s third-largest listed bank said, as it was hit by slumps in global stock and bond markets.
The 52 billion franc downturn was partly compensated by positive currency exchanges, mainly the stronger dollar, as well as net new money inflows of 3 billion francs, it said.
“Supported further by the diligent execution of the revenue and cost measures in the first two years of the current strategic cycle, the cost/income ratio, pre-tax margin and return on CET1 capital (RoCET1) targets set for 2022 remain well within reach,” the wealth manager said in a statement.
Julius Baer also said it is on track to buy back up to 400 million Swiss francs worth of shares by the end of February 2023 as planned.
The bank said it had also reclassified 1 billion francs of assets under management to assets under custody following asset freezes resulting from sanctions imposed on clients in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
($1 = 0.9553 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Noele Illien, editing by John)
