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The bank also reinforced new CEO's Hodler's pledge to not stray from its roots of managing rich peoples' money, as finews.com has previously reported.

«I want to continue to sharpen the pure-play private banking strategy that sets us apart, and to position Julius Baer as the trusted adviser to our clients,» he said in a statement. The bank will keep investing in tools and streamline its work process to support its work force of influential private bankers in doing so, he said.

Aggressive Hiring

Hodler also implied that he will carry on with Collardi's aggressive hiring tactics, which has served the bank well in bringing in new funds in hot markets like Asia and Latin America. «We are well placed to take advantage of international expansion and hiring opportunities,» Hodler said.

In fact, the bank added 266 employees last year, which nudged its spending slightly higher. But private bankers brought on in 2016 and last year also powered the bank past its net new money target of up to 6 percent – the bank took in 22 billion Swiss francs in fresh money from clients last year, or 6.6 percent. Asia, the Middle East, a «substantial» recovery in Latin America, the U.K. and Monaco fueled the inflows.

Its overall assets rose 16 percent to 388 billion francs, due in part to favorable markets, the net new money, foreign exchange swings, and the effect of consolidating Kairos, an Italian wealth manager fully acquired last year.

More to follow