Geneva-based Pictet, regarded as a bastion of financial stability posts a first-half operating profit after accounting for a real estate transaction last year.
Pictet reported a drop in consolidated net profit of 40 percent in the first half of the year, the Geneva-based wealth manager reported Wednesday.
After accounting for a real estate transaction last year, Geneva-based wealth manager Pictet managed a 1 percent increase in profit, the firm announced Wednesday. Excluding the effect of the transaction, consolidated net profit dropped 40 percent in the first half of the year
Operating income was 1.58 billion francs at the end of the first half, gaining 2 percent over the comparable year-ago period, while pre-tax expenses rose 3 percent to 1.1 billion, according to the firm's unaudited figures.
Assets Under Management
Like many other wealth managers, Pictet saw its assets under management (AuM) decline in the first half of the year impacted by the war in Ukraine, among other factors. At the end of June, the firm had 610 billion francs of AuM compared to 698 billion at the end of December. Last year was a record year for several wealth managers in terms of AuM and net new money as finews.com reported.
«After two years of pandemic and following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world entered a new and more fractured global order. Both events have inverted the macroeconomic backdrop of the past two decades, with a shift from low inflation and low-interest rates to high inflation and rising interest rates. The impact of the market-driven drop in our assets under management has been partly offset by rising interest rates,» said senior managing partner Renaud de Planta.
Strong Capital Ratio
Pictet remains well capitalized with 3.06 billion francs of regulatory capital and a capital ratio of 23.5 percent at the end of June. That is nearly twice the minimum of 12 percent required by the Swiss financial authority Finma.
