Swiss private bank Julius Baer posted a 26.8-percent fall in full year profits on February 06 despite healthy cash inflows from emerging markets. Net profit at bank, which specialises in wealth management, fell to 258.1 million Swiss francs (214 million euros) and profit before taxes dropped 26.6 percent to 318.8 million, it said in a statement.
Baer cited the impact of the strong franc and an exceptional charge of 50 million Swiss francs related to bank's move to axe 150 posts, announced in November last year. The bank also had to pay a one-off sum of 50 million euros to German authorities to close a tax evasion probe.
Net inflows for 2011 grew 15.9 percent to 10.2 billion francs, mainly from Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
The group's local business in Switzerland and Germany also delivered "significant" inflows, the bank said. "We were able to maintain our group's business momentum in most dimensions in 2011 despite a challenging market and business environment," said chief executive Boris Collardi in a statement.
Baer said it would "continue to cooperate fully" with authorities in the United States who are investigating banks suspected of helping American clients avoid paying tax.