EFG International returned to profit following several torrid years of restructuring and its acquisition of scandal-tarnished BSI. The bank is now warning that the first quarter isn't doing it any favors.
The Greek-controlled wealth manager said net new money for the first three months of 2019 was slow as Asian clients deleveraged, in a statement ahead of its shareholder meeting in Zurich on Friday.
«Year to date, net asset development has been slow, with net new money largely flat and limited deleveraging, primarily in Asia», following a sell-off in the region late last year. In the first quarter, China’s economy grew at its weakest pace since 1990, and worries over global growth and U.S. trade tensions remained.
Assets under management stood at 138 billion Swiss francs ($135.2 billion), from 138 billion francs at year-end – not including 11.4 billion francs in assets it hopes to acquire when it closes the acquisition of Australian financial service provider Shaw and Partners next week. The private bank reports full results for the six months on July 24.
Hiring Push
EFG said it is on track to hit the 240 million in spending cuts it flagged in February, but will keep hiring. Thus far this year, it has either approved or signed agreements with 64 new private bankers, compared with 39 in all of last year, the bank said.
Its workforce of relationship managers had dropped to 590 at year-end, from 644 in 2017, because of its reorganization. The bank also said it launched its domestic Italian business from its Milan branch. EFG narrowly avoided having the office in Milan shut two years ago following a regulatory investigation by Italy's central bank.
