GLOBAL - Credit Suisse Asset Management has reported increases in both assets under management and pre-tax profits for the first half of 2007, despite continued outflows from its equity products.
Following a CHF152m (€92.3m) investment for the "re-alignment" of its asset management business in the US, Zurich-based Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) saw its pre-tax profit almost double from CHF261m at the end of the first half of 2006 to CHF556m at the same time this year.
Assets under management in the division also increased 21.8% from CHF615.2bn to CHF749.6bn. Net new assets were CHF49.4bn compared to 32.5bn last year.
Credit Suisse said the increase reflected "good market conditions" and the implementation of "strategies for successful asset gathering and management."
However, it conceded it had still to address "performance issues" with its equity products which contributed to a total outflow of CHF1.1bn.
Institutional clients were mainly interested in money market products and longer duration fixed income offerings, the group noted.
Assets under management for the whole of the Swiss group grew by 20% to CHF1.63trn. However, net new assets were only CHF27.6bn, down 8.6%, mainly because of a 13.1% decline in net new assets in the private banking division.
The group's half-year results also revealed the number of employees in the asset management division has dropped by 100 to 3,300 over the last year. However, Credit Suisse stressed it "continued to experience momentum in attracting new talent".
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