Julius Baer Group facts for kids
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| Public | |
| Traded as | SIX: BAER |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 1890 |
| Founder | Julius Bär |
| Headquarters | Zürich, Switzerland |
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Key people
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| Products | Private banking, wealth management, Investment management, Sales and trading, Real estate financing |
| Revenue |  CHF (2024) |
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Operating income
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CHF (2024) |
| CHF (2024) |
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| AUM | CHF (2024) |
| Total assets | CHF (2024) |
| Total equity | CHF (2024) |
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Number of employees
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CHF (2024) |
Julius Baer Group Ltd. is a big Swiss company that helps people manage their money. It's known as a private banking and financial services firm. Its main office is in Zurich, Switzerland.
The company is really good at wealth management, which means helping people grow and protect their money. They also offer advice on investments, help with real estate financing, and some trading services. Julius Baer is one of the largest private banks in the world. In 2024, it managed about 497.4 billion Swiss francs in assets.
Julius Baer's shares are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange. This means you can buy and sell parts of the company there.
The company started way back in 1890 as a small family business. Over time, it grew into a large public company. Today, it works in 28 different countries and has more than 7,500 employees around the world. Julius Baer is known for its traditional Swiss banking values, like keeping client information private.
In recent years, the company has faced some challenges.
Contents
A Look at Julius Baer's History
Julius Baer Group Ltd. is a Swiss private banking group. It's the main company for Bank Julius Baer, a well-known private bank in Zürich, Switzerland.
The company's story began in 1890. It started as a small office that exchanged money, founded by Ludwig Hirschhorn and Theodor Grob. In 1901, Julius Bär took over the bank. He stayed as a partner until 1922. Other family members, like his sons, later joined the business.
The bank's main office has been at Bahnhofstrasse 36 in Zurich since 1924.
Over the years, more members of the Bär family became involved in leading the bank. In 1980, the bank started allowing people outside the family to invest. It became a public company in 2005. This meant anyone could buy shares in the company.
In 2005, Julius Baer bought several other private banks and an asset management company called GAM from UBS. This made Julius Baer one of the biggest independent money managers in Switzerland. Later, in 2012, it also bought Merrill Lynch's wealth management business outside the US.
The Bär family continued to be involved in the bank's leadership for many years. Raymond Bär was chairman until 2012.
Since 2014, Julius Baer has been the main sponsor of the Formula E Championship. This is a racing series for electric cars.
The number of people working at Julius Baer has grown a lot. In 1980, there were about 400 employees. By 2020, there were more than 6,000, with almost half of them working in offices outside Switzerland.
In 2023, Julius Baer made a business decision to stop working with clients living in Russia. This was due to changing global situations.
In April 2025, Noel Quinn, who used to be the CEO of HSBC, became the new Chairman of Julius Baer. He joined to help guide the company.
How Julius Baer Manages Its Money
Julius Baer started as a partnership, which is a business owned by a few people. In 1974, it became a company with shares. In 1980, it became a public company, meaning its shares could be bought and sold by anyone.
In 2005, the Bär families gave up their control of the company. All the shares became one type, traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Today, a company called MFS Investment Management is the biggest shareholder, owning almost 10% of the voting rights.
In 2020, Julius Baer announced plans to make its business more efficient. This included reducing some jobs as part of a three-year plan to improve the bank's profits.
In 2025, Julius Baer announced more plans to cut over 400 jobs, mostly in Switzerland. They also planned to make their Executive Board smaller, from 15 members to 5. This is part of the current CEO Stefan Bollinger's plan to reduce costs and improve financial results.
Growing Through Acquisitions
When a company "acquires" another company, it buys it. This helps the company grow bigger and offer more services.
In September 2005, Julius Baer bought several independent private banks. These included Ferrier Lullin, Ehinger & Armand von Ernst, and Banco di Lugano. They also bought a company called Global Asset Management (GAM) from UBS AG, another big Swiss bank. This made Julius Baer one of the largest independent wealth management companies in Switzerland.
In 2009, GAM became a separate company again.
In November 2012, Julius Baer teamed up with Kairos Investment Management SpA in Italy. They worked together to create a leading wealth management service in Italy. Julius Baer bought 19.9% of Kairos, and their Italian services now operate under the name Kairos Julius Baer.
Julius Baer also bought Merrill Lynch’s International Wealth Management business in August 2012. This deal was worth 860 million Swiss francs. It helped Julius Baer's managed assets grow by 40%, reaching 251 billion francs.
In July 2014, Julius Baer announced that it had bought the private banking parts of Israeli Bank Leumi.
Julius Baer's Community Work
The Julius Baer Foundation
The Julius Baer Foundation is a special part of the company that focuses on helping others. It was started in 1965 by Walter J. Baer.
The Foundation mainly supports projects related to young people, job training, recycling, and making sure wealth is shared more fairly. They help projects that directly benefit younger generations in many ways. As the company grew globally, so did the Foundation's reach.
The Julius Baer Foundation works with and supports many organizations. These include Sistema B in Chile, Solafrica in Ethiopia, Swisscontact in Switzerland, and Plastic Free Planet in the UK. It also continues to support the Julius Baer employee-based JB Cares organization and some art museums in Switzerland.
In 2020, JB Cares and the JB Foundation helped with aid programs in Lebanon. This was after a big accident happened in the port of Beirut in August 2020.
Since 2019, Romeo Lacher has been the president and chairman of the Julius Baer Foundation. Andreas Weinberg is the vice president.
See also
- Banking in Switzerland
- List of banks in Switzerland
