Geneva’s Pictet Says Client Assets Rose 11% Last Year on Inflows
(Bloomberg) — Pictet & Cie. Group SCA, issuing its first annual results statement after more than two centuries in banking, said client assets increased 11 percent last year after net inflows.
Total managed and custodied clients assets were 435 billion Swiss francs ($472 billion) at the end of December, up 44 billion francs from Jan. 1, 2014, Switzerland’s biggest closely held bank said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. That includes 17 billion francs of net new money from customers.
Pictet, based in Geneva, reported full-year net income of 459 million francs in its first full-year earnings statement since it was established in 1805. A change in corporate structure last year required greater transparency from Pictet and two other Geneva-based banks, after pressure from regulators overseas forced them to drop their centuries-old unlimited liability partnership arrangements and adhere to Swiss company disclosure rules.
Those other banks, Cie. Lombard, Odier SCA and Mirabaud SCA, are also expected to disclose new financial information for 2014.
“Each of our three business lines –- wealth management, asset management and asset services — contributed to the positive net new money flows,” Jacques de Saussure, senior managing partner at Pictet, said in the statement. “Despite a demanding regulatory environment and volatile exchange rates, we are confident for the future of Pictet.”
Pictet plans to publish its annual report in April, according to the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Giles Broom in Geneva at gbroom@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Bentley at mbentley3@bloomberg.net Cindy Roberts, Jon Menon
