DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Top wealth manager Julius Baer caught in property write-off storm as CEO steps down
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A pedestrian sheltering under an umbrella passes a Julius Baer Group Ltd. branch in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Group Chair Romeo Lacher said he and the board "deeply regret" net credit losses of 606 million Swiss francs ($701 million), well above consensus expectations, which include a loan loss allowance of 586 million francs. Julius Baer in November announced its exposure to the struggling Austrian company, which has been hit by the higher interest rate environment. It further said Thursday it would exit its private debt businesses, winding down its remaining private debt book of 800 million million Swiss francs, 2% of its total loan book. The bank reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 454 million Swiss francs for the full-year 2023, down 52%, with earnings per share of 2.21 francs.

Persons: Julius Baer, Philipp Rickenbacher, Romeo Lacher, Rickenbacher, Nic Dreckmann, Anke Reingen Organizations: Julius Baer Group, Signa, Austrian, CNBC, Swiss, RBC Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Swiss

GENEVA (AP) — Julius Baer says its CEO is resigning and the Swiss bank is quitting the private debt business as well as setting aside more than a half-billion Swiss francs (dollars) reportedly over its exposure to bankrupt Austrian asset manager Signa. Zurich-based Julius Baer said it was exiting the private debt business and the annual results reflected net credit losses of 606 million Swiss francs (about $702 million) — 586 million francs of which included a loan-loss allowance for unspecified private debt exposure. Photos You Should See View All 45 ImagesShares of Julius Baer were up nearly 6% to 50.02 Swiss francs in midmorning trading Thursday on the SIX Swiss Exchange following the news. Media reports said the bank's troubles were linked to Signa, but Julius Baer didn't specify. The bank announced the exposure to private debt issues in November, comprised of three loans to different entities at a “European conglomerate” active in commercial real estate and luxury retail.

Persons: — Julius Baer, Romeo Lacher, Julius Baer, Philipp Rickenbacher, Nic Dreckmann, Julius Baer didn't Organizations: GENEVA, Signa, SIX Swiss Exchange, Media, Credit Suisse, UBS Locations: Swiss, Austrian, Zurich, Vienna

☆ Banks are being rocked again as real estate losses mount
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The regional lender set aside $552 million in the fourth quarter to absorb loan losses, up from $62 million in the previous quarter. The increase was driven partly by expected losses on a loan used to finance an office building, it said. ET as shares in NYCB, as well as other regional banks, suffered sharp losses. Much bigger players are girding themselves for losses linked to commercial real estate. Europe’s benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index, which tracks 42 big EU and UK banks, is up 23% since a low in late March.

Persons: Thomas Cangemi, Brendan McDermid, Julius Baer, Philipp Rickenbacher, Arnd Wiegmann, Reuters Philip Lawlor, ”, “, ” Lawlor, CNN’s Matt Egan Organizations: London CNN, Credit Suisse, New York Community Bancorp, New York Stock Exchange, Japan’s Aozora Bank, Federal Reserve, ”, CNN, Signa Group, Chrysler, Reuters, Deutsche Bank, Bank, Suisse —, UBS, Wilshire Indexes, KBW Locations: Europe, New York, Tokyo, Zurich, California, Republic, NYCB, Banc, Swiss, Austrian, Switzerland

☆ Julius Baer declines to confirm Signa exposure
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Julius Baer's Chief Executive declined to confirm on Wednesday whether the private bank's 606 million Swiss franc ($693 million) exposure it disclosed earlier this week is to toppled property giant Signa. The CEO said it was too early to say what specific lessons could be learned relating to the large exposure in its private debt business. Troubled property group Signa, which owns scores of high-profile projects and department stores, declared insolvency on Wednesday. Signa, controlled by an Austrian magnate, has borrowed heavily from banks including Julius Baer, which on Monday disclosed it had an exposure of more than 600 million Swiss francs, the largest in its private debt loan book, to a European conglomerate. "I believe Julius Baer will be able to continue its risk appetite and its risk capacity as we have on average in the last few years."

Persons: Julius Baer's, Philipp Rickenbacher, Julius Baer, Rickenbacher, Noele Illien, Elaine Hardcastle, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Financial Times, Global Banking, Thomson Locations: ZURICH, Austrian

☆ Julius Baer’s damage control only goes so far
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Swiss private bank Julius Baer is seen at their headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland February 2, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMILAN, Nov 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Julius Baer (BAER.S) has soothed agitated investors’ fears – but only up to a point. The $11 billion Swiss wealth manager said on Monday that 70 million Swiss francs of recently revealed losses stemmed from 606 million Swiss francs of loans to a single corporate client – which Reuters identified as troubled property group Signa. That’s 40% of the bank’s 1.5 billion Swiss francs riskiest credits, an uncomfortably high concentration. That implies a buffer of 450 million Swiss francs over the 14% threshold at which boss Philipp Rickenbacher gets comfortable doing share buybacks.

Persons: Julius Baer, Arnd, ’, –, Philipp Rickenbacher, Julius Baer’s, Lisa Jucca, Warren Buffett, George Hay, Streisand Neto Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, X, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, China

☆ Baer says exposure to single group tops 600 mln francs as Signa crisis deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of Swiss private bank Julius Baer is seen at their headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland February 2, 2022. Julius Baer has exposure to troubled property group Signa, a source close to the matter told Reuters, adding that Julius Baer was expected to write down some of those loans. "If and when appropriate, the Group will remain prudent in booking further valuation adjustments as required," Julius Baer said. Last week Baer's shares slumped to their lowest this year as the bank dampened profit expectations after loan provisions amounting to 82 million Swiss francs. Of the 82 million francs, 70 million francs were booked against its credit portfolio after Oct. 31, 2023, without identifying the loans in question.

Persons: Julius Baer, Arnd, Philipp Rickenbacher, Andreas Venditti, Noele Illien, Rachel More, Kim Coghill Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Swiss

The logo of Swiss private bank Julius Baer is seen at their headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland February 2, 2022. "The strength of the Swiss banks, of the Swiss economy, of the Swiss political system ... I think this is the foundation to be the preeminent number one financial place for cross border wealth management," he told the event. "Everyone is and wants to be in wealth management and everyone sticks to it, even those players who are not as efficient, not as effective as others." He declined to comment on speculation linking Julius Baer with Swiss bank EFG International (EFGN.S).

Persons: Julius Baer, Arnd, Julius Baer's, Philipp Rickenbacher, Rickenbacher, Noele Illien, John Revill, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, UBS, Credit Suisse, Swiss, EFG, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Swiss, United States

☆ Julius Baer wants to double assets under management - Handelsblatt
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, July 10 (Reuters) - Swiss bank Julius Baer (BAER.S) can double its assets under management to 1 trillion Swiss francs ($1.12 trillion), CEO Philipp Rickenbacher said in an interview with German daily Handelsblatt on Monday. Achieving the goal would mean a massive increase from the 429 billion francs in assets that Julius Baer currently manages, but it is possible, the daily reported, adding that Rickenbacher declined to give a timeline on when the target could be achieved. "But we are in growth mode and such ambitions are not unrealistic," he said, adding that attracting former Credit Suisse clients will take time. "Perhaps the market has overestimated the speed of the shifts," Rickenbacher said. ($1 = 0.8912 Swiss francs)Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Julius Baer, Philipp Rickenbacher, Rickenbacher, John Revill, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Credit Suisse, Silicon Valley Bank, Thomson Locations: ZURICH, Swiss, Silicon

☆ Julius Baer CEO eyes gains from Credit Suisse's fall -media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, April 3 (Reuters) - Julius Baer (BAER.S) is having "constructive discussions" with Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) staff who are looking to leave following their bank's takeover by UBS (UBSG.S), the Swiss private bank's Chief Executive said in an interview on Monday. The takeover, engineered by Swiss authorities last month, would be difficult, he told the newspaper. "An integration of that order of magnitude in Switzerland is going to take a lot of resources and effort, and a lot of complexity." "We have hiring opportunities in Latin America, we have hiring opportunities in Asia ...and ... in Europe and in Switzerland," he said. "Things will remain very complicated — everything that was there a month ago will not go away," Rickenbacher said.

☆ Julius Baer 2022 profits fall as it hits business cycle targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ZURICH, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Julius Baer (BAER.S) on Thursday said net profit fell 12% in 2022 in a tough market environment, as the Swiss bank said it closed its 2020-22 business cycle by hitting all its financial targets. Net profit dropped to 950 million Swiss francs ($1.05 billion) from 1.08 billion francs. Net new money totalled 9 billion Swiss francs over the year. "We are closing the 2020–2022 strategic cycle with the second-best result ever," Chief Executive Philipp Rickenbacher said in a statement. "...This puts us on a strong footing from which we have already started the work for the upcoming three-year cycle."

☆ 2023 has clearly had a better start than 2022, says Julius Baer CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email2023 has clearly had a better start than 2022, says Julius Baer CEOPhilipp Rickenbacher, CEO of Julius Baer, discusses the wealth management group's results for 2022, and says that was a year with an "incredibly challenging backdrop."

Search resuls for: "Rickenbacher"

11 mentions found