The Swiss wealth manager J. Safra Sarasin lifted profits, revenue, and assets last year. It continues to stand out against peers for keeping a lid on its spending.
Controlled by Brazil’s wealthy Safra family, the Basel-based private bank lifted its net profit by more than five percent last year to 400.3 million Swiss francs ($440.5 million) last year, it said in a statement on Monday. Tumultuous financial markets underpinned a more than 17 percent rise in its operating profit to 546.3 million francs, the wealth manager said.
J. Safra Sarasin remains unrivaled in keeping an eye on its spending: its cost-income ratio sank to 55.9 percent, from a Swiss-wide record low of 59.6 percent in 2019. It amortized the entirety of its remaining goodwill, according to a spokesman 112 million francs.
Its assets rose to 192.4 billion francs, helped by favorable financial markets swelling the assets it has, as well as 7.2 billion francs in fresh money taken in by its private bankers. This represents a growth rate of less than four percent on its existing assets.
