Julius Baer Says It Wasn’t Hurt by SNB Cap Decision, Shares Rise
(Bloomberg) — Julius Baer Group Ltd. said it suffered no losses in the two trading days after the Swiss central bank unexpectedly abolished its franc cap. The shares surged.
The bank was able to “manage successfully the enormous volatility and volumes” following the Swiss National Bank’s decision, it said in a statement. The shares jumped as much as 7.3 percent, and were up 6.1 percent at 36.62 Swiss francs at 10:41 a.m. in Zurich. They lost 24 percent last week after the SNB’s announcement on Jan. 15 erased earlier gains.
Banks around the globe are said to have lost billions of dollars after the SNB said it decided to abolish the three year- old ceiling preventing the franc from strengthening above 1.20 versus the euro. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc suffered joint losses of about $400 million in the market turmoil, according to people familiar with the matter.
Swiss wealth managers’ stocks declined because much of their revenue is denominated in foreign currencies while the costs are in Swiss francs. UBS Group AG’s stock declined 17 percent in the two trading days following the decision, while Credit Suisse Group AG’s dropped 19 percent.
Julius Baer, the third-largest Swiss bank, said it “expects to be able to rapidly implement appropriate measures to defend the group’s profitability from the effects of the strengthened Swiss franc,” without elaborating.
Credit Suisse will charge a commission on assets held at the bank by institutional customers and “large” corporate clients, spokeswoman Daniela Haesler told SonntagsZeitung.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeffrey Vögeli in Zurich at jvogeli@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at emartinuzzi@bloomberg.net Simone Meier, Jon Menon
