Julius Baer boosted its pre-tax profit by 38 percent in the first half of the year, buoyed by trading fee income and a client rush towards structured products.

The Swiss bank said growth in these areas – among others – more than compensated for a decline in interest income of 19 percent, and a CHF 49 million provision for bad loans, up more than 15-fold from H1 2019’s CHF 3 million provision.

Pre-tax profits rose 38 percent to CHF 577 million. The group’s total net profit sat at CHF 491 million for the six months ending 30 June, an all-time record for the group, with operating income up 9 percent to CHF 1.85 bil...