Just over a year ago, the Swiss bank Julius Baer , a leader in the wealth management segment, sold its Brazilian operations to BTG Pactual for R$ 615 million. Despite being planned, the transaction contributed to a sharp drop in the bank's annual net profit, according to a financial statement released on Monday morning, February 2nd.

The indicator totaled 764 million Swiss francs (approximately R$ 5.17 billion) throughout 2025, a 25% decrease compared to the previous year, after 213 million Swiss francs in losses (R$ 1.44 billion) due to credit and loss of tax benefits recorded in 2024. Of this total, Brazil was responsible for 99 million francs (R$ 670 million).

Without taking into account these factors, which the bank considered "widely expected," the institution's pre-tax profit registered a 17% growth, reaching 1.27 billion Swiss francs. This amount was boosted by higher fee income, a greater volume of customer transactions, and stricter cost control by the bank.

In this context, the institution's assets under management grew by 5%, reaching a record 521 billion Swiss francs, driven by the rise in stock markets and increased inflows of funds from regions in Asia , such as Singapore and Hong Kong.

Even so, the bank's operating revenue fell by 3%, to 3.8 billion Swiss francs.

“I am very pleased with the positive momentum created throughout the organization and with the concrete progress achieved on several fronts — from simplifying our operating model and focusing more on the customer to strengthening governance and renewing our leadership team,” said Stefan Bollinger, CEO of Julius Baer, in the document.

"In short, 2025 was a successful transition year, which puts us on a solid path to achieving our medium-term goals," he added.

Bollinger has been actively working to rebuild the bank's image, which was tarnished after his predecessor, Philipp Rickenbacher, granted risky loans involving exposure to private debt, as part of a more aggressive strategy for the institution.

This gamble cost the bank 606 million Swiss francs in 2024, after the Signa group, owned by Austrian René Benko, collapsed. Julius Baer was one of its financiers.

Now, the bank's focus is on returning to delivering profit growth over the next two years. To date, Julius Baer has not announced a new share buyback program, which remains under review by current management.