In a year in which Vontobel saw its assets under management and profit decline sharply, its wealth management unit was a relative bright spot.

After record levels in 2021, Vontobel experienced a 16 percent decline in assets under management (AUM) in 2022 to 204.4 billion Swiss francs ($220.9 billion), according to results released on Wednesday. Net new money was down 5.2 billion last year, after netting 8.1 billion in 2021.

A closer look shows that Vontobel's wealth management unit performed relatively well as it attracted 5.4 billion Swiss francs of net new money from clients last year, only slightly below the 5.6 billion francs the unit netted in 2021. That helped keep the all-important AuM in the unit relatively steady at 92.6 billion last year compared to 95.8, thereby weathering adverse market conditions far better than the asset management business. 

Significant Changes

That helped to somewhat offset a 10.6 billion drop in net asset management outflows. In wealth management, the net new money came primarily in developed core markets and a continued inflow of funds into mandates, according to the results. 

«Despite significant changes in the investment landscape, the wealthmanagement business continued to perform well. In the current uncertain environment, wealth management clients displayed a preference for quality and expertise that benefited Vontobel,» Chairman Andreas Utermann and CEO Zeno Staub wrote in a letter included in Vontobel's annual report. 

Compensation of the executive board fell last year to 6.7 million francs from 11.7 in 2021, a 43 percent decline, according to the report. The figure also reflects the fact that there were only four members last year compared to five in 2021. 

Staub also had to make concessions in his compensation for 2022 which fell to 2.453 million from 4.353 million the year before. 

Cost Cutting

Perhaps because of those results, the wealth management division didn't feel the cost-cutting knife as much as the overall group. Vontobel reduced its operating expenses by 4.7 percent overall last year to around 1.02 billion Swiss francs.

Overall personnel expenses were cut by 10.7 percent to 655.9 million francs. The cuts didn't come at the expense of wealth management, however, where personnel costs were cut by a more modest 3.3 percent. 

Relationship Managers

Wealth management also experienced the bulk of new hiring last year. Vontobel added just over 105 full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees, of which more than half came in wealth management.

The number of FTEs increased to 664 from 609 in 2021. Nearly half comprised relationship managers who saw their ranks increase to 316 last year from 297 the year before. At the same time, FTEs in asset management declined slightly to 177 FTEs from 181.