Julius Baer Increases Managed Assets

ZURICH—Julius Baer Group AG said Thursday that the Swiss bank's managed assets rose 2% during the first four months of this year compared with the end of 2015, to 305 billion Swiss francs ($308.6 billion), as it pursued modest acquisitions and recruited new bankers.

Zurich-based Julius Baer said net inflows of assets during the period declined on an annualized basis to below 3%, however. This was because of "slow momentum" in Eastern Europe and Latin America, and the continued pulling of assets by French and Italian clients declaring the funds in their Swiss accounts to tax authorities in their home countries, the company said.

Hiring picked up during the first four months of the year, with the addition of more than 30 relationship managers, or private bankers, Julius Baer said. The bank said locations doing the hiring included Asia, where Julius Baer and other Swiss banks are attempting to bulk up to court an increasing number of wealthy clients in the region.

Recent acquisitions include an increased stake taken by Julius Baer in Italian wealth manager Kairos, and in subsidiaries focused on Brazil and Japan.

Julius Baer publishes detailed financial reports twice a year. In between those reports, it publishes brief financial updates of the sort released Thursday.

Write to John Letzing at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 19, 2016 03:25 ET (07:25 GMT)

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