Market Woes Dent Vontobel's AuM; Says Capital Base Strong

Tom Burroughes

31 March 2020

Swiss wealth management house , which is based in London and New York, to 80 per cent from 60 per cent in 2021. This firm specialises in the area of fixed income investments. The acquisition of the remaining participation will be financed from Vontobel’s own funds.

As of 24 March, advised client assets totalled SFr194 billion, a fall of 8 per cent compared with the average advised client assets of SFr212 billion in 2019. The stock market turmoil also overshadowed the positive overall trend in terms of net new money, the firm said. Even so, Vontobel’s report said that the annualised net inflow of SFr5.2 billion exceeded the 4-6 per cent target range.

Vontobel said it has a “comfortable” capital position with a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 13.5 per cent and a Tier 1 capital ratio of 19.9 per cent. Both ratios are above the Swiss regulatory minimum requirements of 7.8 per cent for the CET1 capital ratio and 12 per cent for the Tier 1 capital ratio.

The pandemic has hit Vontobel along with other firms. “As a result of the pandemic, we are experiencing a higher level of uncertainty among clients. This sentiment, combined with increasing caution on the part of investors, is likely to continue over the course of the year,” Staub said.

In addition, known factors such as geopolitical tensions and low interest rates remain a source of uncertainty. “Irrespective of the market crisis and the difficult operating conditions due to the corona pandemic, we remain committed to our successful strategy as a focused and globally active investment manager. We will continue to make targetted investments in growth – and consequently in employees and technologies – while systematically managing costs. Our new set-up and the new way of working related to it will help us to develop investment opportunities that are tailored to the individual needs of our clients, even in difficult market conditions,” Staub added.