Julius Baer Group Ltd. took over businesses in Lebanon, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as Switzerland’s third-largest wealth manager integrates the Merrill Lynch operations acquired last year.
“Gaining new footholds in the Middle Eastern markets of Lebanon and Bahrain and strengthening our existing Dubai presence is an important step for us and will enable us to further expand our footprint in this key growth region,” Remy Bersier, a member of the Zurich-based bank’s executive board, said in an e-mailed statement today.
The employees, client relationships and majority of assets from the three units were transferred in the first days of this month and the process should be completed in the first quarter of next year, the company said.
Julius Baer, the Swiss bank founded in 1890, said in September that it’s on track to absorb as much as 72 billion francs ($81 billion) of client assets after acquiring Bank of America Corp’s non-U.S. wealth units last year. Julius Baer is adding to offices in Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Istanbul as the number of millionaires in the Middle East rose 8.1 percent to 490,000 in 2012, according to Capgemini SA and RBC Wealth Management.
Governments in the Persian Gulf region, which includes Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E, are using their oil riches to invest in infrastructure and industry, helping boost wealth in the region. Middle East banks are hiring private bankers to tap that wealth.
Falcon Private Bank, the money manager owned by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, appointed ex-Societe Generale SA executive Annette Hoiness as head of private banking in September. Nedbank Group Ltd., the South African bank controlled by Old Mutual, the same month named Andrew Bates as head of private banking in the region.
While the purchases from Bank of America may help the Swiss wealth manager compete with larger rivals, UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, Julius Baer said last month that its gross margin declined as it absorbed the Merrill business, which recorded a pretax loss in 2011. Julius Baer had 249 billion francs of assets under management at the end of October.-Bloomberg
