Onshore Moves Fuel Asia Growth at Julius Baer
Julius Baer spotlighted its strategic focus on domestic activities across an array of markets in Asia, adding that locally booked clients accounted for a quarter of the group’s total assets under management.
Asia’s largest pure-play wealth manager placed emphasis on onshore developments throughout the region in business review from its latest financial results which saw a profit surge in 2020 driven by significant improvements in its cost-income ratio (71 percent to 66.4 percent).
«After a pandemic-induced subdued start to the year, business momentum continuously improved as the year progressed,» the bank said, highlighting increased single-family office interest in Asia as well.
«Net new money inflows remained healthy though slightly below last year’s levels, contributing to higher assets under management. The significantly increased client activity during 2020 resulted in higher revenues.»
Onshore Roots
The bank is actively building roots in onshore markets across the region. In North Asia, it was the first foreign institution to enter a tie-up with the Beijing International Wealth Management Institute. In Japan, its strategic partnership with Nomura has seen the «share of prospective clients entering an account relationship accelerating in the second half of the year» with aims to introduce its discretionary mandate services next.
And in the south, it continues to expand its joint venture with Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand where it previously announced targets that would rank the standalone entity amongst the top 20 private banks in Asia. The bank highlighted a broader ultra-high net worth individual offering that included domestic and global solutions.
In India, most notably, it has taken an integrated approach, covering major onshore cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad while also servicing non-resident Indians throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Transition to Seamless
«The pandemic crisis further validated our ongoing push to foster seamless client interaction […] across all physical and digital touchpoints,» the bank said with Asia now gaining access to the same Swiss functionalities from mobile and e-banknig platforms.
The introduction of features such as e-signatures or direct-to-client features allowed for greater efficiency in administrative tasks and content distribution.
In 2021, the bank will aim to further seamless digital onboarding with capabilities such as video identification or digital signatures for account opening documents.
