Swiss private bank Julius Baer reported their 2020 results with a 50% jump in net profits to CHF 698mn ($779mn). This was led by income from financial instruments that rose 53% to CHF 943mn ($1.05bn) driven by high market volatility, which spurred client activity in FX, derivatives and precious metals trading, as well as by higher income from structured products. Factors that hurt net profits were an impairment charge of CHF 190mn ($212mn) related to investment in Kairos, a wealth management company acquired in 2019, and a provision of CHF 73mn ($81mn) related to settling an investigation with the US DOJ regarding FIFA. Also, net interest income fell 22% as a result of lower US interest rates. The bank’s CET1 ratio was at 14.9% and total capital ratio at 21.0%. The bank also announced a share buy-back programme of up to CHF 450mn ($503mn) until end-February 2022 and an increase in dividend by 17%.
Julius Baer’s USD 4.875% Perps were up 35 cents to 104.85 cents on the dollar and their 4.75% Perps were up 0.3 to 103.56 cents on the dollar.
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