Is Julius Baer’s Strategy Update the Breakthrough the Bank Needs?
The venerable Swiss private bank Julius Baer has suffered a setback in its transformation process: another batch of bad loans surfaced during a review, putting CEO Stefan Bollinger suddenly on the defensive. Much now hinges on the early-June strategy update. An assessment follows.
This is hardly good news. After the market closed on Tuesday evening, Julius Baer announced another write-down, according to finews.ch: an internal review had uncovered 130 million Swiss francs ($158 million) in non-performing loans.
According to CEO Stefan Bollinger and CFO Evie Kostakis in a Wednesday morning media call, the debtors are several clients from Switzerland and the EU. These loans are not connected to the scandal involving the Austrian property group Signa, which had previously plagued the bank.
As a result of the latest findings, chief risk officer Oliver Bartholet is retiring. He will be succeeded by Ivan Ivanic.
Hunt For Bad Loans
Ivanic joined Julius Baer as chief credit officer in February this year. He now becomes chief risk officer and joins the executive board. He brings many years of senior risk-management experience, including a stint as chief risk officer for UBS in Asia.
That experience will be called upon immediately; the review will continue under Ivanic’s leadership.
«We assume no further problematic positions will be found in the books,» Bollinger said during the call.
Eliminate the Legacy
Bollinger is determined to clear the slate and eliminate the legacy issues still hanging over Julius Baer, a welcome move.
Yet the 4.3 million francs fine from FINMA for anti-money-laundering violations, announced just last week, and now Tuesday’s impairment represent two pieces of bad news in rapid succession. They have weighed on the share price, which slipped yesterday as rumors spread during the day.
Counting on Investor Support
These developments have put CEO Bollinger on the back foot, especially since results for the first four months of 2025 did not offset the negative headlines.
Although Julius Baer attracted a solid 4.2 billion francs in net new money, the franc’s sharp appreciation against the dollar pushed assets under management down 6 percent to 467 billion francs.
Eyes Turn to London
Bollinger needs investors on board for the ongoing transformation. That makes the strategy update, scheduled for 3 June in London, crucial. He emphasized repeatedly during the call that this is now his primary focus.
At least he does not hesitate: having taken the CEO role only in January, Bollinger will lay out a new course less than six months later. Soon, however, the numbers will have to show it is working.
