Swiss Bank Efg on Course for Record Profit, CEO Says

ZURICH (Reuters) -EFG International is on course to beat last year’s net profit and record its most profitable year, the Swiss private bank’s Chief Executive Giorgio Pradelli said on Wednesday.

The bank made a net profit “in excess” of 260 million Swiss francs ($294.18 million) in the first 10 months of 2024, compared with 303.2 million francs for the whole of 2023, EFG said in an update on Wednesday.

“We are ahead of budget and we are on track to beat the record result of last year,” Pradelli told reporters.

EFG said it was seeing strong cash inflows, with net new assets of 7.4 billion francs during the period, amounting to an annualised growth rate of 6.3%.

Assets under management rose to 159 billion francs at the end of October, up from 142.2 billion francs at the end of 2023.

Pradelli said client activity continued in November, helped by volatility in financial markets.

“When there is a volatility in the markets, trading activity goes up,” he said, noting that customers were prepared to take on riskier investments in November.

The bank would also consider acquisitions and was working with investment banks on potential targets, the executive added.

“We see that globally the M&A market is more fluid,” Pradelli said. “We are looking, but there is nothing imminent for the moment that I can say.”

($1 = 0.8838 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by John Revill and Oliver Hirt, Editing by Miranda Murray)