Julius Baer says client trading boosts first-half gross margins

Says the wealth units purchased last year may boost client assets by $76.6 bn by 2015

Julius Baer Group Ltd said increased client trading boosted margins as Switzerland's third-biggest wealth manager integrated Merrill Lynch businesses acquired from Bank of America Corp last year.

Julius Baer has said the wealth units purchased last year may boost client assets by as much as 72 billion Swiss francs ($76.6 billion) by 2015. Julius Baer rose as much as 5.6 per cent and was 5.5 percent higher at 41.95 francs at 9:53 am in Zurich.

Julius Baer's first-half net income fell to 114 million francs from 162.2 million francs a year earlier, the bank said. Julius Baer increased its estimate for the cost of the Merrill acquisition to about 455 million francs, from 400 million francs because of higher expenses related to transferring clients to the Swiss bank's systems, Chief Financial Officer Dieter Enkelmann said.