Julius Baer

The main part of the Group is Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., founded more than 120 years ago in Zurich and represented in more than 20 countries around the world. The Bank provides asset management services for wealthy people, in particular, property management, investment planning, lending, financial consulting, inheritance planning, and also provides the services of a global depository.

2023

The collapse of the bank's shares by 20% after the bankruptcy of a large Austrian borrower

Julius Baer Group Ltd's forecast for December 2023 is reduced to "negative" by Moody's due to management issues. The rating company confirmed the issuer rating of the holding company Baer at Baa1.

Shares in Switzerland's second-largest bank fell about 20% in November after news broke of loans worth 606 million Swiss francs ($703 million) issued to property group Signa, owned by Rene Benkoe. Austrian company Signa Holding filed for bankruptcy on November 29, 2023.

Blocking the accounts of Russians and Belarusians

One of the largest Swiss banks Julius Baer in May 2023 sent a notification to Russian and Belarusian clients that their investment accounts would be isolated from other assets, and operations on these investment accounts were frozen due to Euroclear requirements, Forbes reported.

The sale of securities held by Euroclear is temporarily suspended and the purchase of new securities is not possible. Cash proceeds from the sale of shares and bonds, coupon and dividend payments will be held in separate accounts. The letter states that accounts have limited access and customers cannot dispose of them.

2020

Court decision to ban the return from the bank of funds of Lamesa V. Vekselberg due to US sanctions

In November 2020, the owner of Renova Group of Companies and Metcombank Viktor Vekselberg was unable to return the arrested $160 million to Julius Baer. Although he offered to send this money for the treatment of patients with coronavirus COVID-19. On November 16, a Zurich court rejected Lamesa's lawsuit - the judge equated the holding company with Vekselberg and recognized the legality of US sanctions. The court recognized the legality of blocking the company's accounts and refusing to pay dividends on securities. The court order says that if Julius Baer ignores US sanctions, the bank faces heavy fines.

$80 million fine for facilitating money laundering by FIFA officials

On November 9, 2020, it became known that the Swiss bank Julius Baer entered into an agreement with the US Department of Justice to resolve charges related to facilitating money laundering at the International Football Federation (FIFA).

Julius Baer has already allocated $79.7 million to cover fines related to agreements with the American department. The bank said it expects a final resolution to the issue "in the near future." Switzerland's third-largest private bank began working with the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate alleged money laundering and corruption assistance involving FIFA officials and affiliates and related sports media and marketing companies in 2015.

Julius Baer Bank will pay US $80 million fine for facilitating money laundering by FIFA officials

The case is a relic of the era of former chief executive Boris Collardi, who as of November 2020 works for a private bank in Geneva and manages the assets of Pictet.

At the beginning of 2020, Julius Baer was sharply criticized by the country's financial regulator, the Financial Market Operations Supervision Authority Switzerland (FINMA), over ignoring the money laundering risks associated with payments to FIFA. In 2017, the US District Court found the former banker guilty of conspiring with the president of the Argentine Football Association.

According to Julius Baer, after that incident, measures were taken to eliminate the shortcomings found in the analysis of the operations carried out, including by re-documenting all their relationships with customers and terminating relations with some customers.

Julius Baer's participation in the FIFA corruption case led to the Swiss financial regulator banning the company from major deals in February 2020. Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti believes that after the agreement, FINMA will remove restrictions from Julius Baer and the bank will be able to implement its plans to conclude new large deals.^[1][2]

2013: Purchase from Bank of America of Merrill Lynch's non-U.S. private client asset management unit

On February 01, 2013, Julius Baer Group closed its acquisition from Bank of America Merrill Lynch a private client asset management unit outside. USA This transaction was an important step towards the further growth strategy and significantly strengthened the Group's leading position in the global banking market for wealthy customers.

As of February 1, 2013, the total amount of Julius Baer Group's client assets is 280 billion Swiss francs (about $305 billion). US), and the amount of assets under management - 200 billion Swiss francs (about $218 billion. UNITED STATES).

2012: Total client assets CHF 277 billion

As of December 31, 2012, Julius Baer Group's total client assets amounted to CHF 277 billion (about $302 billion). US), and the amount of assets under management - 189 billion Swiss francs (about 206 billion dollars. UNITED STATES). The Group's shares are listed on the Swiss Six Swiss Exchange stock market and are included in the Swiss Market Index SMI.

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