Swiss-Italian private bank Reyl Intesa Sanpoalo has been operating as a new legal entity since the beginning of the year. The markets, but also the implementation of the merger, have taken their toll on the new entity.

The Reyl Intesa Sanpalo merger project came into legal effect on January 1, and the Swiss-Italian banking group presented half-year figures as the combined entity for the first time on Wednesday. The set of figures presented by the Geneva-based financial company can only be compared with values from the past to a limited extent due to the merger and its complex structure.

For example, only the figures for the Swiss banking unit Reyl & Cie are given in the income statement. But as it turns out, the costs of the merger left a clear mark on the original Bank Reyl. As a result, expenses exceeded income and led to an operating loss of 3.3 million Swiss francs ($3.5 million) in the first half of the year. An almost complete reversal from the same period last year when the bank earned 3.6 million francs.

Improved Bottom Line

The bank was still able to mobilize reserves for general banking risks of 6.4 million francs and subsequently reported a profit of just under 3.5 million francs, an increase of 4 percent from the previous year.

On the assets under management (AuM) side, the main yardstick for private banking, Reyl & Cie reported a 37 percent increase to 18.1 billion francs for the same period, including 300 million francs in new money. At the group level, the figures at the end of June include client money from former Swiss Intesa Sanpaolo subsidiary Banque Morval (ISPBM), as well as a pro-rata 40 percent stake in Geneva-based asset manager 1875 Finance, in addition to money from all branches abroad.

 «Satisfactory» Performance

«All-in», assets under management climbed an impressive 52 percent to 38.4 billion Swiss francs. But if a comparison is made to the end of 2021, the leap is no longer so great. Group-level assets at the end of last December, excluding ISPBM, but including the 1875 Finance stake, stood at 38 billion francs, an indication that the market declines of recent months have eaten into the merger project.

In Wednesday's report, Reyl Intesa Sanpaolo said that given the environment and internal restructuring the group's first semester was «satisfactory».