Based on the current 92 institutes, around 20 to 30 more are likely to disappear in the coming years. After the takeover activity that had practically come to a standstill in the past few months, transactions are likely to pick up again soon. The major banks UBS and Credit Suisse were not part of the study.
2021 was a “golden year”
In recent years, asset managers have benefited from the stock market boom and rock-bottom interest rates. KPMG even described 2021 as a “golden year”. For example, the inflow of new money had reached a record level. But now there are signs of a trend reversal. Because of the slump on the financial markets, the sharp rise in interest rates and the war in Ukraine, many bank customers are unsettled. “This environment will definitely have a negative impact on the performance of private banks,” said KPMG manager Philipp Rickert.
While the return on equity was still close together in 2015, the gap between the strong and the weak institutes has widened since then. While the 19 best houses returned an average of 10.1 percent in 2021, the 22 worst were in the red even in this favorable environment. Among them were a particularly large number of small institutes. Given the looming decline in earnings, they would also have less leeway to reduce costs than their larger competitors. Many of them are therefore likely to give up in the coming years.
Source: Nachrichten
