Julius Baer 2022 profits fall as it hits business cycle targets

ZURICH (Reuters) – Julius Baer on Thursday said net profit fell 12% in 2022 in a tough market environment, as the Swiss bank said it closed its 2020-22 business cycle by hitting all its financial targets.

Net profit dropped to 950 million Swiss francs ($1.05 billion) from 1.08 billion francs. The bank, which competes with UBS and Credit Suisse in managing the investments of the ultra-wealthy, saw assets under management fall by 12% as global stock and bond markets underwent corrections.

It said the decline in managed assets was somewhat compensated for by a significant acceleration in new money flowing into the bank towards the end of 2022. Net new money totalled 9 billion Swiss francs over the year.

“We are closing the 2020–2022 strategic cycle with the second-best result ever,” Chief Executive Philipp Rickenbacher said in a statement.

“…This puts us on a strong footing from which we have already started the work for the upcoming three-year cycle.”

The bank also said it had nominated Juerg Hunziker for election to its board of directors.
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($1 = 0.9071 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Noele Illien, editing by Rachel More and John Stonestreet)