By almost doubling assets under management and market capitalization after acquiring three private banks and GAM from UBS, Julius Baer throws down the gauntlet to the private-banking industry in Switzerland. The pace of consolidation is stepping up.
It's the inevitable response to the challenges facing an industry in which 70% of the total $1.8 trillion assets under management – according to estimates from Boston Consulting Group – belong to European citizens whose national governments are making it less attractive to keep assets offshore. At the same time as the costs of new regulations to prevent money-laundering are weighing heavily on the smaller private banks, those banks' clients are demanding better service and increased access to top-quality investments products that the banks don't have. The...
