Julius Baer history

Grob left the firm again in 1896 when at the same time Joseph Michael Uhl and Julius Bär joined.

1901: Julius Baer takes control of the partnership, which is renamed Julius Baer & Co. and granted a seat on the Zurich stock exchange.

The Bank purchases the property at Bahnhofstrasse 36 (which until 1922 was the seat of the Swiss National Bank) on 14 March.

Julius Baer had previously served as vice-chairman of the Zurich Stock Exchange Association, and son Walter was named chairman of that body in 1931.

1940: The Baer family sets up its first office in New York, Baer Custodian Corporation.

Part of the Baer family that went to New York was later Chairman Hans J. Baer, who, after studying at Horace Mann University, Lehigh University, and New York University, returned to Switzerland in 1947 to join the private banking firm.

In 1962, the group extended its securities activities to its New York office, setting up Baer Securities Corporation, which was later reformed as Julius Baer Securities Inc.

In 1966, Baer turned toward Mexico, setting up its first company in that country, Baer Mexicana.

1968: The company sets up its first subsidiary in the United Kingdom, Julius Baer International Ltd.

In addition to its international expansion, Baer also began diversifying its products, launching its first Swiss Investment Fund, called Baerbond, in 1970.

In 1974, the company formed a new offshore operation, Baerbank (Overseas) Ltd. in the Cayman Islands, which changed its name to Julius Baer Bank and Trust Company the following year.

Hans J. Baer was appointed the company's chairman in 1975, a position he was to hold through the end of the century.

1980: Baer lists shares on the Zurich stock exchange.

Baer, which had established its international presence primarily through its securities operations, opened its first foreign bank branch office in London in 1982.

In 1983, the company turned its attention to New York, establishing Julius Baer Investment Management, which offered international pension fund products to the United States market.

Baer next turned to Hong Kong, establishing a representative office in that city in 1985.

1986: Baer acquires a majority stake in the branch office in Geneva.

Baer continued to expand elsewhere, launching a subsidiary in Frankfurt, Germany, Bank Julius Bär (Deutschland) AG, and a Guernsey subsidiary, Julius Baer Trust Company (Channel Islands), both in 1989.

In 1990 the company launched a new Luxembourg-based investment fund.

Another factor in Baer's growth was its decision to boost its private banking activity in the United States, where securities had long been the company's primary source of revenues. As a result, Baer's asset management portfolio grew strongly, reaching $23 billion in 1992, then climbing to $32 billion the following year.

In 1994, the company added a branch of Bank Julius Baer in Guernsey and also entered Monaco with the establishment of Société de Gestion Julius Baer (Monaco). The following year, the company launched a new Zurich-based subsidiary, Julius Baer Asset Management Ltd.

In 1996, Baer surprised the Swiss private banking community when it announced that it had acquired a 51 percent controlling stake in family-owned Swiss private bank Bank Falck & Co., based in Lucerne.

In 1997, Julius Baer Holding Ltd. acquired the Lucerne-based Bank Falck & Co.

By 1998, Baer had completed the take- over of Falck and converted it as a branch of Bank Julius Baer.

1999: The company opens branch offices in Milan and Amsterdam.

2000: The company opens a branch office in Madrid and branch offices in Berne and Basel.

The move into brokering, however, was to turn against the group, with a collapse of the markets in 2001, and the group was forced to shut down its online operation, losing its investment.

In 2002, Baer placed the next generation of the family at its head, in the form of Raymond J. Baer, who led the company on a drive to refocus its efforts on its core private banking business.

In April 2005, Julius Baer sold its wealth management business in the USA and Canada to UBS.

Foundation of Julius Baer (Uruguay) S.A., Montevideo on 24 July 2007.

The 2008 credit crisis ushered in a fundamentally changed business environment, leading Julius Baer to take a rather unorthodox step.

In May 2009, Julius Baer announced the acquisition of the independent Italian investment manager Alpha SIM.

In 2010, Julius Baer acquired ING Bank (Switzerland) Ltd.

In May 2011, Julius Baer acquired the independent Brazilian wealth manager GPS.

In July 2012, Julius Baer entered into a strategic partnership with the Bank of China (BOC).

The merger of independent wealth management companies Infidar Investment Advisory Ltd., part of the Julius Baer Group, and WMPartners Wealth Management Ltd. announced in November 2013 is completed on 1 April.

The inaugural championship, which starts in Beijing on 13 September 2014, includes 10 races in major cities around the globe.

In addition, Leumi’s Swiss private client business in Geneva and Zurich was transferred to Bank Julius Baer in March 2015.

In 2016, Julius Baer acquired Commerzbank International S.A. Luxembourg.

The consolidated company trades under the name of WMPartners Wealth Management Ltd and was integrated into Julius Baer’s important existing intermediaries business at the end of 2017.

In January 2018, Julius Baer acquired Reliance Group, Brazil, one of the country’s largest independent wealth managers.

Following an additional participation of 30% announced in March 2019, today the majority participation amounts to 70%.

Acknowledging the challenges evident at the outset of a fresh decade, Julius Baer presented an update and refinement of its strategy for the medium and longer term at the beginning of 2020.