The Zurich-based wealth manager achieves record profits for 2021, while net new money growth slows.  

The wealth manager reached a record net profit of 384 million Swiss francs ($415 million) in 2021, up 48 percent over the year before, it said in a statement Wednesday.

Assets under management stood at 243.7 billion francs at the end of the year, up 11 percent, while net new money came to 8.1 billion francs, representing a 45 percent decline from 2020.

All client units drove growth with 80 percent of revenues coming from asset management and wealth management.

Soft Patch

In 2020, net new money was 14.8 million francs and well above the target corridor of 4 to 6 percent. Last year’s result is only «close» to the target corridor. In its presentation, the bank described this as a «soft patch», in part due to two large low margin outflows in the multi-asset and fixed income.

Higher Dividend

The board of directors will propose a dividend of 3.00 francs per share – one-third higher than in the previous year – at the annual general meeting on April 6.

Recent acquisitions of TwentyFour Asset Management, as well as the purchase of UBS Swiss Financial Advisers, are expected to contribute more than 30 million francs to annual profit after taxes for shareholders, the statement said.

«Vontobel is specifically pursuing a capital-light growth strategy with a conservative risk profile – in terms of both organic and inorganic growth,» Zeno Staub, CEO of Vontobel said.