Julius Baer Lures Super-Rich, Says Deposits Up

Switzerland's third-biggest bank for the rich, Julius Baer, said it has seen a rising flow of deposits this year -- another likely signal the superwealthy are turning their backs on bigger rival UBS.

Earlier this week, UBS said it would axe jobs in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the bank once seen as a beacon of Swiss stability but which has been shattered by the global financial crisis.

Julius Baer Holding, long used to being in the shadow of its bigger rival, said on Friday it had seen "significant net new money" in the first four months of the year.

Baer, seen by many conservative savers as a safe alternative, said it had not had any losses related to the credit and liquidity crisis.

UBS's credit-related writedowns of $37 billion do not only spell the end of large swathes of its investment bank, which landed it in trouble in the first place.

They are also hurting its prized business of banking for the rich.

Net new money -- the amount entrusted to it by wealthy savers -- in the first three months of the year all but evaporated, the bank said earlier this week.

Inflows sunk to under 6 billion Swiss francs ($5.68 billion), a fraction of the 45 billion francs one year earlier, marking what one analyst described as an alarming trend.

Credit Suisse, which has also had to grapple with fallout from the global financial crisis, also saw a slip in new money in the first quarter to 13.5 billion francs from about 15 billion a year earlier.

Switzerland is the world's largest centre for private banking by far -- home to UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, and Credit Suisse, the fourth largest -- thanks to its strict banking secrecy laws and centuries of stable politics.

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