The cantonal bank of the region of St. Gallen increased assets under management strongly in the first half of 2017. Profit at the bank rose 8.9 percent.

St. Galler Kantonalbank (SGKB) attracted 1.1 billion Swiss francs in net new money in the first six months of 2017, the company said in a statement today. Assets under management rose 5.5 percent to 40.4 billion francs. The improvement was also partly due to the good investment performance, the bank said.

Customers remained reluctant to invest their cash holdings, but income from commissions and services still rose 4.6 percent. Trading income added even 39 percent, while interest income declined slightly.

Increase in Net Income

With operating expenses largely unchanged from a year ago, the bank was able to record an increase of net income of 8.9 percent, reaching 80.5 million francs.

The bank expects business to perform largely in line with the first half.