HispanicBusiness

Swiss-based bank Julius Baer said Tuesday that it was slashing up to 1,000 jobs, as part of its acquisition of Merrill Lynch's non-US wealth management business.

Julius Baer said it wanted to make the former Bank of America subsidiary more profitable through a "significant reduction" of operating costs, and by merging some operations.

Up to 18 per cent of Julius Baer's new total of 5,700 jobs will be cut.

At the same time, Julius Baer announced that its managed assets have risen to 184 billion Swiss francs (197 billion dollars), an increase of 8 per cent since the start of this year.

The takeover is expected to boost this figure by an additional 72 billion francs, once the capital transfers are completed.

In August, the bank had announced the deal that is valued at a price of up to 860 million francs. It gives the Swiss private bank wider access to growth markets in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.