For the first time, Private Bank Pictet is disclosing the amount of new money it acquired. There are good reasons for this and probably attributable to some degree to the debacle at Credit Suisse.
The Geneva-based Pictet Group reported a profit of 366 million Swiss francs ($415 million) for the first half of the year, 3.7 percent lower than the 380 million francs in the same period last year, the firm announced Thursday.
The difference compared with last year is likely to be found on the one hand on the expense side, where technology and personnel expenditures had a significant impact. Operating income of 1.621 billion Swiss francs increased 3 percent compared with the first half of 2022. Above all, higher taxes impacted profits.
Total expenses before taxes increased 3 percent to 1.146 billion francs compared to a year ago, leaving an operating income of 475 million francs, up 2 percent year-on-year.
High Net New Money Inflows
«Thanks to our stability and the long-term focus of our investment activities, we recorded a significant inflow of new money in the first half of the year,» said senior managing partner Renaud de Planta. New money inflows were over 15 billion francs in the first six months of the year, a figure it hadn't disclosed in the past.
Pictet doesn't reveal the origin of new money, but the bank known as «The Fortress» is likely to have benefited from the bank run on crisis-ridden Credit Suisse in March.
At the end of June, it managed or held 638 billion francs in custody accounts compared to 612 billion francs at the end of last year.
Large Cushion
The Group's overall capital ratio is traditionally high. Measured against regulatory capital of 3.56 billion francs, it stood at 29.3 percent at mid-year, well above the 12 percent required by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma).
The bank employs a total of 5,300 people at its 30 worldwide locations.
