LONDON: Julius Baer Group Ltd says full-year profit for 2025 will be lower than last year, as it booked a 150 million Swiss franc (US$186mil) loan-loss provision on real estate lending amid an ongoing cleanup of the bank.
Wealthy clients have added a net 11.7 billion Swiss francs in the 10 months through October, the Zurich-based bank said in its interim statement. That’s higher than in the same period in 2024. Assets under management grew 4% in the first 10 months to 520 billion Swiss francs.
Chief executive officer Stefan Bollinger and chairman Noel Quinn are seeking to refocus the bank after losses linked to the collapse of Rene Benko’s real estate empire prompted the wealth manager to shake up its top management.
Swiss regulator Finma is currently conducting an investigation into the affair.
Julius Baer said it has completed a credit review announced in May and has decided to “manage down a subset of loan book positions” primarily in residential and commercial real estate, amounting to 700 million francs.
As a result of one-off factors including the after-tax impact of net credit losses booked in 2025, full-year profit will be less than that of 2024, the bank said. “Underlying profitability and capital generation remain strong,” it said. — Bloomberg
