Julius Baer

Julius Baer: The World's Largest Pure-Play Private Bank

Julius Baer was established in 1890 in Zurich as a family-owned currency exchange company. 135 years later, it has grown into the worldwide leading pure-play private bank. With CHF 583 billion in assets under management as of December 2025, Julius Baer is quoted on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker: BAER). Julius Baer employs around 7,390 people in more than 60 locations in over 25 countries worldwide. As universal banks cover retail, corporate and insurance businesses, Julius Baer has chosen to focus exclusively on wealth management, investment advisory and selective brokerage services. Important milestones of the company’s history are: 1980: The company carried out its initial public offering. 2012: The firm acquired the International Wealth Management business from Merrill Lynch for CHF 860 million (40% growth of AUM). Recent Leadership change Julius Baer also recently saw a leadership change, with former Goldman Sachs Partner Stefan Bollinger joining as Chief Executive Officer and former HSBC Group CEO Sir Noel Quinn as Chairman.

Services & Capabilities

Julius Baer’s business activities encompass a comprehensive range of wealth management services covering all aspects of private wealth throughout its full lifecycle. The bank operates on an open architecture basis, meaning that it offers a wide range of third-party investment products as well as its own Julius Baer investment products. The services provided are based on three main engagement models – discretionary portfolio management, advisory mandates, as well as execution-only – which enable clients to choose from a broad spectrum of investment options and customise their level of participation in investment and portfolio management decisions. In addition, Julius Baer offers all-round wealth planning services in the form of advice on issues such as inheritance planning, taxation, philanthropy, family governance and asset protection. It also provides a wide range of loan products including Lombard and mortgage lending. In addition, Julius Baer offers global custody, foreign exchange, structured products and precious metals services.

• Discretionary Portfolio Management — recognized by Euromoney as Best for Discretionary Portfolio Management globally in both 2024 and 2025
• Open Architecture Investment Platform — access to proprietary and third-party funds, structured products, alternatives, and direct securities across all major asset classes
• Wealth Planning & Family Governance — retirement planning, succession, wealth transfer, and next-generation education programs including value-based family workshops
• Sustainable & Impact Investing — ESG integration across discretionary and advisory mandates, with dedicated sustainable strategies, climate transition themes, and sustainability profile assessments
• Private Markets Access — private equity, hedge funds, private markets secondaries, and bespoke structured product solutions
• Lombard & Mortgage Lending — leveraged investment strategies and property financing tailored for HNW and UHNW clients
• Advanced Digital Platform — proprietary mobile app and e-Banking across seven jurisdictions, AI-driven Digital Advisory Suite, online trading via Market Link, and digital onboarding with video identification. The firm invested CHF 1 billion in technology between 2023 and 2025
• Philanthropy Advisory — guidance on charitable giving structures, impact measurement, and legacy planning

Investment Approach

Thematic conviction, global diversification and expertise Julius Baer’s investment philosophy is centred on thematic conviction and a multi-asset, globally diversified approach. At its core, our research engine discovers and evaluates specific structural trends (such as digitalisation, the energy transition, demographics and changing consumer behaviour) to achieve portfolio construction decisions across equities, fixed income, alternatives, structured products, foreign exchange and precious metals. Our thematic approach is layered on top of fundamental and macroeconomic analysis, to allow clients to potentially benefit from a direct link to the long-term drivers of growth, rather than short-term market timing. Combined with our open architecture model, where relationship managers and investment advisors can select from an independently verified spectrum of external fund managers and products, where appropriate and complemented by Julius Baer’s own investment offerings in cases where they can be demonstrated to provide value added, this approach to investing delivers flexibility, customisation and sustainable returns. The construction of discretionary mandates is primarily carried out by means of a thorough, market-independent asset allocation process based on the risk exposure, liquidity requirements and the sustainability preferences of each individual client. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are an integral part of our business model for both discretionary and advisory business. Clients are also able to choose from a range of different sustainability profiles that may have a direct impact on the selection of products and any potential portfolio adjustments. Our alternatives offerings – including private equity, hedge funds and secondaries from the private markets – provide opportunities for further diversification and return enhancement for suitable clients looking to broaden their investment universe beyond the liquid markets.

Client Focus

Company Description: Julius Baer specializes in providing banking and investment advisory services to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-HNW individuals, family offices, independent asset managers and intermediaries worldwide with a minimum investment level of CHF 1 million. Julius Baer describes itself as having a distinct expertise in serving international private clients; the definition of international private clients as “individuals whose personal and family lives, business activities and investments frequently transcend national borders and require comprehensive and coordinated cross-border advice in the fields of banking and asset management.” Julius Baer describes its client base as including “entrepreneurs at all stages of their business lifecycle – from those establishing their businesses, to those experiencing significant events such as sales or listings, through to those managing their assets after having stepped down from management roles or have sold their businesses.” Julius Baer has also invested heavily in next-gen wealth services, and won Best Next-Gen in the Euromoney Private Banking, Wealth Management Awards in the UK and in Western Europe. This is a testament to the firm’s efforts to educate, engage and incorporate the next-gen of the world’s wealthiest families via wealth education programs, digital communication, and values-based wealth planning. Julius Baer has a worldwide presence with locations in Zurich and Geneva as well as London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and locations in Latin America and Asia. Its 2024 global client survey revealed an 81% client satisfaction rating. Julius Baer is positioned as a 135-year old, Swiss, “heritage bank with a future-oriented group of executives,” which has a new group of leaders with “ambitions to establish Julius Baer as a leader on the global private banking scene” while it “simplifies” its 15 member strong Executive Board to 5 members; “is on track to achieve an annual cost base of CHF 250 million” and is meanwhile expanding into new markets, including in the UAE with the launch of a Representative Office in Abu Dhabi as well as into Portugal with the establishment of a new location in Lisbon.