Julius Bär Gruppe AG said its AUM reached a record CHF401 billion at the end of April, a year-to-date increase of 3%.
The Swiss private banking group said it was the first time that its AUM cross above the CHF400 billion mark, which came on the back of continued net inflows as well as a positive currency impact that mainly followed the strengthening of the U.S. dollar in April.
Annualized net new money pace was above 5%, within the group's 4% to 6% target range, as a result of a net inflow momentum remaining robust, Julius Bär said, noting that inflows were "particularly strong" from clients domiciled in Europe, Switzerland and Asia.
Julius Bär's gross margin for the first four months stood at 93 basis points, up 5 basis points compared to the second half of 2017, which it primarily attributed to an increase in client activity, bolstering both net commission and fee income and net trading income.
Cost-to-income ratio was just below 67%, which is within the group's 64% to 68% medium-term target range.
The group's BIS total capital ratio stood at 19.8% as of April-end, compared to 21.2% at the end of 2017 on a fully applied basis. The company said its BIS common equity Tier 1 capital ratio was stable at 13.3%, compared to 13.5% at 2017-end on a fully applied basis, despite the impact from its acquisition of a further 20% stake in Italian firm Kairos Investment Management SpA in January.
The group also noted that its new banking system in Asia was introduced at the end of March.
Julius Bär will publish first-half results July 23.
