Julius Baer Set to Cut Hundreds of Jobs, Reduce Executive Board
(Bloomberg) — Julius Baer Group Ltd. is set to announce hundreds of redundancies to take place over the next two years, as new Chief Executive Officer Stefan Bollinger focuses on reducing costs at the Swiss wealth manager.
The job cuts will be across divisions, people familiar with the matter said. While initial discussions focused on reducing the workforce by about 10%, current talks are on a lower number, the people said, who asked not to be named discussing private details.
The bank’s 15-person executive board will also be significantly downsized, they said. The plans are not final and could yet change, the people said.
With Bollinger on board since this month, the Zurich-based wealth manager is aiming at completing a turnaround launched in the aftermath of losses linked to the defunct Signa real estate empire. The results of an investigation by regulator Finma into related risk control losses are expected to be announced soon, potentially giving Baer the opportunity to detail its plans to return capital to shareholders, the people said.
Julius Baer is set to announce full-year results for 2024 on Feb. 3. The bank had about 7,400 employees at the end of 2023.
A spokesman for Julius Baer declined to comment on the plans.
Higher Profit
Baer said in November that 2024 profit should be “significantly” above the previous year’s level, when losses linked the collapse of Rene Benko’s Signa group helped cut profit in half.
Investors have also focused since then on the bank’s cost-to-income ratio, which has deteriorated steadily since 2021.
In his first town-hall meeting on Jan. 9, Bollinger addressed the cost issue head on, saying that there had been a lot of hiring without corresponding revenue growth.
This week the bank also announced that its chairman, Romeo Lacher will not stand for re-election at the annual general meeting in April.
Julius Baer’s much larger neighbor, UBS Group AG, is also in the midst of a wave of job reductions, Bloomberg News has reported. Hundreds of employees have received notice in recent weeks, as the bank works through the integration of Credit Suisse.
–With assistance from Noele Illien.
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