Zurich, 21 March 2022 –Julius Baer today publishes details on its Russia exposure and its support of the relief efforts. Commenting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Philipp Rickenbacher said: “I believe I speak for all my colleagues at Julius Baer when I express my sadness and concern for those affected by this deplorable act of aggression. This feeling is mirrored in the generous contributions by our employees to a recent fundraising initiative in support of the relief efforts for the most vulnerable civilians in this war. Besides contributing financially to humanitarian help, Julius Baer is fully focused on managing all risks for the Group and its clients with the utmost discipline.”

Julius Baer is donating CHF 2 million to support the activities of the Swiss Red Cross in Moldova and Poland and the Swiss Refugee Council. Its employee organisation ‘JB Cares Switzerland’ collected funds from staff that, after being matched by the Julius Baer Foundation, resulted in an additional donation of CHF 450,000 to the Swiss Red Cross.

As of 18 March 2022, Julius Baer’s overall exposure to Russia was as follows:

• The collateral value of Russian assets, including those traded on markets outside Russia, was reduced to zero in February 2022. Julius Baer has worked closely with the affected clients to adjust the credit positions accordingly, without this leading to any credit losses to date.
• Julius Baer complies with all applicable laws and regulations, including national and international sanctions, and since the invasion of Ukraine does not on-board new clients with a Russian residence. The Group has credit exposure to a low-single-digit number of clients subject to the recently introduced sanctions. The exposure is in the form of mortgage loans at conservative lending values against residential properties in prime locations in Western Europe, as well as a marginal Lombard credit exposure fully covered by pledged liquid assets collateral.
• Julius Baer’s market risk exposure to Russia is not significant and is tightly managed. The Group is further monitoring settlement risks related to certain open transactions with Russian financial institutions related to Russian securities, such as market closures, the imposition of exchange controls, sanctions or other measures which may potentially delay or impair the counterparties’ ability to honour such claims.
• The net asset value of the advisory subsidiary Julius Baer CIS Ltd. in Moscow amounted to CHF 0.4 million as at 31 December 2021. The Group is reducing its local activities in line with contractual agreements, while ensuring the safety of its small number of employees.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

This media release by Julius Baer Group Ltd. (‘the Company’) includes forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations and projections about the Company’s future results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, strategies, opportunities and the industries in which it operates. Forward-looking statements involve all matters that are not historical facts. The Company has tried to identify those forward-looking statements by using the words ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘should’, ‘expect’, ‘intend’, ‘estimate’, ‘anticipate’, ‘project’, ‘believe’, ‘seek’, ‘plan’, ‘predict’, ‘continue’ and similar expressions. Such statements are made on the basis of assumptions and expectations which, although the Company believes them to be reasonable at this time, may prove to be erroneous.

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and other factors that could cause the Company’s actual results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the markets it serves or intends to serve, to differ materially from those expressed in, or suggested by, these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause those differences include, but are not limited to: changing business or other market conditions, legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments, general economic conditions in Switzerland, the European Union and elsewhere, and the Company’s ability to respond to trends in the financial services industry. Additional factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially. In view of these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company and its subsidiaries, and their directors, officers, employees and advisors expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release any update of or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this media release and any change in the Company’s expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based, except as required by applicable law or regulation.