Julius Baer said today that it has taken full control of the Merrill Lynch International Wealth Management businesses in Lebanon, Bahrain and UAE, continuing the process of transferring operations into the Swiss-listed bank around the world.

Julius Baer said today that it has taken full control of the
Merrill Lynch International Wealth Management businesses in Lebanon, Bahrain and UAE, continuing the
process of transferring operations into the Swiss-listed bank around the world.

The transfer of the businesses follows moves to take full
control of other Merrill Lynch IWM operations since Julius Baer agreed to
acquire the US
firm’s non-US wealth business in August 2012. Julius Baer has already taken
control of operations in regions such as the UK.

As explained in a statement today, Merrill Lynch has run
private banking activities for more than 50 years in Lebanon
and for more than 35 years in Bahrain.
In Dubai, two offices of Merrill Lynch transitioned over to Julius Baer’s
existing business, one based in the free zone of the Dubai International
Financial Centre and one based in the domestic Dubai market.

The employees, client relationships and the majority of the
assets of the Middle Eastern businesses transferred in the first days of
December 2013. The process is expected to be completed in the first quarter of
2014, the Julius Baer statement said.

“I very much look forward to
welcoming the new colleagues and clients. Gaining new footholds in the Middle
Eastern markets of Lebanon and Bahrain and strengthening our existing Dubai
presence is an important step for us and will enable us to further expand our
footprint in this key growth region,” Rémy Bersier, member of the executive
board of Julius Baer and head of Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said.

In the Middle East, Julius Baer
now has offices in Abu Dhabi, Beirut,
Cairo, Dubai, Istanbul and Manama.

So far the businesses located in Switzerland, Uruguay, Chile,
Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, Spain and Panama have started the
transfer process as well and are moving ahead as planned. The integration phase
which was launched in February 2013 is expected to be completed in the first
quarter of 2015, with the large majority of the assets under management planned
to be transferred in 2013.