Union Bancaire Privée, the Geneva-based private bank, has reported income of SFr384.4 million ($355.9 million) for the first six months of the year, falling from SFr418.8 million for the first half of 2009. The bank's net earnings for the first half of 2010 were SFr103.3 million.

UBP said it had attracted capital inflows amounting to SFr3.4 billion in the first six months of this year, with a significant proportion of new clients coming from emerging markets.

The Swiss bank has been looking to rebuild its fortunes and recover client confidence after it was hit by the $65 billion Ponzi scheme fraud of Bernard Madoff.

Assets under management, meanwhile, fell in the first half of the year, amounting to SFr71.9 billion at end-June 2010, compared to SFr75 billion at the end of 2009. Alternative assets totalled SFr17 billion for the first half of this year, having been SFr18.8 billion at end-2009.

Operating expenses were reduced by over 2 per cent to SFr246.4 million, compared to SFr251.9 million for H1 2009. The group’s consolidated cost/income ratio was 69 per cent after depreciation.

Meanwhile, UBP said it has made significant investments to reinforce its business activities in private and institutional asset management – which sees as its largest growth areas – and that these changes are strongly oriented towards emerging markets.

UBP’s Tier 1 capital ratio stood at 26.6 per cent at the end of the first half.