Switzerland's Rothschild & Co posted a sharp rise in full-year profits, but the private bank posted a modest outflow of net funds. finews.asia reports.
Zurich-based Rothschild's full-year profit rose by nearly half 18.9 million Swiss francs last year, according to the private bank's annual report posted online. Income from interest and dividends rose sharply, while trading fell and fees and commissions edged only slightly higher.
A nearly 7 percent rise in income, including from selling a subsidiary, as well as cutting costs by more than 2 percent underpinned the profit for the year, which ends on March 31.
CEO's First Year
The bank said it saw an increase in legal and compliance costs linked to more layers of complexity surrounding regulation – something it shares with the wider Swiss private banking industry.
«As part of an ongoing commitment to our strength and stability, we continue to invest in our skills and resources as well as our risk management processes and systems,» Rothschild chairman Bruno Pfister wrote in a shareholder letter.
The results represent the first full-year from Chief Executive Laurent Gagnebin, the scion of private banking royalty who took over last May.
Net Outflows
The bank, which under Gagnebin is firmly in expansion mode, also posted a net outflow of 268 million francs, compared to an 1.4 billion franc inflow last year.
Gagnebin told finews.asia earlier this year that Switzerland's private banks had lived too comfortably for too long, and needed to rethink their value following the fall of banking secrecy.
Rothschild sold its Channel Islands subsidiary during the year, leading to a windfall of more than 4 million francs.
The bank's assets under management fell 15 percent to 14 billion francs, largely due to the asset sale. Assets, when including those under administration for Rothschild elsewhere, rose more than 6 percent to 27.4 billion francs.
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