Vontobel to take additional cost-cutting measures as profit falls

ZURICH (Reuters) -Vontobel Holding saw its full-year net profit fall 6.5%, the Swiss private bank and asset manager said on Thursday, as it vowed to take additional measures to cut annual costs by 100 million Swiss francs.

Group net profit fell to 215 million Swiss francs ($246.28 million) from 230 million francs a year earlier, beating estimates by Zuercher Kantonalbank for 182.7 million francs.

The Zurich-based company saw outflows in its asset management division of 7.6 billion francs, which it put down to cautious behaviour of institutional investors.

Its wealth management arm, on the other hand, saw inflows of 3.2 billion, with strong performance in its home market, the bank said.

Last year, Vontobel hired 60 new relationship managers and said it expects to see the first possible effects from these by the end of the year or in 2025.

"We begin 2024 with a clear understanding of the way forward and a fully aligned leadership team," said Christel Rendu de Lint, who became co-CEO at the start of the year alongside Georg Schubiger, in a statement.

Vontobel also said it would be reorganizing its three client units -- asset management, wealth management and digital investing -- into two client segments: private clients and institutional clients.

In a separate release on Thursday, the bank said it would be taking a minority stake in London-based private infrastructure manager, Ancala.

The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2024.

($1 = 0.8730 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Noele IllienEditing by Miranda Murray and Kim Coghill)