Although markets wiped out more than $30 billion of Julius Baer’s client assets year-to-date, Asia, especially the politically unstable Hong Kong, continued to shine as a major contributor.

Market performance wiped out 16.2 billion Swiss francs ($17.3 billion) while currency impact erased another $13.3 billion in Julius Baer’s local terms year-to-date, according to its latest half-year results. 

Nonetheless, the bank still achieved $5 billion in new client assets – 2.3 percent annualized net new money growth – with strong contributions from Europe and Asia. Overall, assets under management (AUM) in 2020 thus far were down 6 percent to 402 billion Swiss francs ($428 billion).

Hong Kong

In addition to Japan, the bank, interestingly, saw strong inflows from the Hong Kong market where post-security law ripples are being felt across the city.

The strong performance coincides with a recent report claiming that top private banks were looking to increase staff managing Chinese and Hong Kong wealth offshore by up to one-third, largely focusing on Singapore, driven by rising political uncertainty. The report cited Julius Baer which did not address any current issues but underlined the ongoing growth of the bank’s Greater China franchise in the city-state.

«Julius Baer has been growing our Greater China franchise in Singapore over the past five years,» said David Shick, head of private banking for Greater China at Julius Baer. «We will continue to hire the top and right talent in both the Singapore and Hong Kong locations as Asia is our group's important second home market».

New Money, Profits and AUMs

Despite flat AUMs, the bank’s posted a 43 percent surge in profits to 491 million Swiss francs fuelled by a 70 percent spike in trading income. Higher market volatility sharply drove higher the demand for foreign exchange, derivatives, precious metals and structured product activities. Coupled with broadly unchanged spending, the significantly increased trading income helped offset a drop in interest income. 

And Asia, once again, shined as «a much increased profit contribution» from platforms in the region helped the bottom line, according to a tax guidance note.

Dubbed Julius Baer's «second home market», Asia continues to fuel the group’s growth across key indicators including new money, profits and AUMs – the region accounts for 26 percent of assets by client domicile, surpassing the second-ranked Western Europe’s 25 percent.