"There is no other transaction of this size out there in wealth management with such a high tilt toward growth markets," Collardi told investors in London today. "It's a business with a strong momentum, at least until a few years ago. I think the business just needs momentum again."
Julius Baer, which bought ING Groep NV's Geneva-based wealth business in 2009, acquired a 30 percent stake in Brazilian wealth manager GPS Investimentos Financeiros e Participacoes SA and purchased Macquarie Group Ltd.'s Asian private-client business in 2011.
Julius Baer lost out to Safra Group last November in its bid to buy a controlling stake in Basel, Switzerland-based Bank Sarasin.
The Merrill business reported a loss last year and had a cost-to-income ratio of 114 percent, according to Julius Baer. That measure improved to 110 percent in the first half of this year, the bank said.
"Tough Job"
"When you're cutting costs, you're also cutting revenue," said Becker. "I think it will be a tough job. There's a reason why Bank of America didn't want this business anymore and why it was loss-making for them."
Bank of America CEO Brian T. Moynihan has unloaded foreign businesses to focus on selling more services to existing customers. He has sold more than $50 billion in assets and businesses since taking over in 2010 to bolster capital before stricter international rules take effect.
Assets under management at Julius Baer increased 8 percent to 184 billion francs in the first eight months of the year, after net inflows that were close to the top of the firm's 4 percent to 6 percent target range, the company said. Client assets have climbed 20 percent since the end of 2009.
The firm spent about 20 million francs on U.S. legal matters in the first eight months of the year, Chief Financial Officer Dieter Enkelmann told investors in London. The firm said Feb. 6 it expects to pay a fine and hand over client data to U.S. authorities as part of a probe of 11 banks that allegedly helped Americans hide money from the Internal Revenue Service.
Gross margin, a measure of profitability, was "slightly lower" in the first eight months of this year than the 98 basis points reported for the first half, Julius Baer said. A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point.