Swiss Julius Bär private bank posts record half-year profit

Julius Bär posts record half-year profit Keystone-SDA

In the first half of 2026, the Swiss private bank Julius Bär increased profits to a new record high, thanks to higher revenues and the absence of one-off charges.

But new money inflows to the Swiss private banking giant remained modest.

At CHF673 million, consolidated profit for the first six months was more than double that of the previous year (CHF295 million). Profit in the same period last year had been weighed down by loan portfolio write-downs of CHF130 million and other one-off factors.

Net new money inflows in the first half of 2026 amounted to CHF5.7 billion, following inflows of CHF7.9 billion in the same period last year. Projected over the full year, this corresponded to new money growth of 2.2%.

Assets under management (AuM) climbed to an all-time high of CHF547 billion at the end of June. Compared with the end of 2025, assets under management have thus risen by around 5%. In addition to the inflows of new money, the bank benefited from a positive performance on the equity markets as well as from currency effects, according to the statement.

Volatile markets

On the income side, the bank benefited from strong client activity against a backdrop of volatile financial markets. At the same time, the bank was able to make further cost savings. The underlying cost-to-income ratio improved to 62.6% in the first half of the year, compared with 68.2% in the same period last year.

As previously announced, Julius Bär aims to achieve gross efficiency gains of CHF130 million by 2028. In the first half of 2026, implementation costs amounted to CHF7 million, whilst the resulting net cost savings totalled CHF11 million.

The bank reaffirmed its medium-term targets. It also explicitly confirms its target of 4-5% growth in new money by 2028, even though the impact of implementing its risk and compliance framework is likely to continue into 2027.

With its half-year results, Julius Bär has exceeded analysts’ expectations – they had forecast an average profit of CHF630 million (AWP consensus). In terms of new money inflows, the experts had forecast a net inflow of CHF5.2 billion.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.