Following the integration, all of Merrill Lynch’s Irish employees and client relationships will operate under the Julius Baer platform.
The Irish arm will be located in Leopardstown, Dublin, and will be run as a branch of Julius Baer International, based in London.
Julius Baer said Merrill Lynch’s Irish office has built a strong team of financial advisers and a broad client base since opening in 2001.
Gian Rossi, head Northern, Central and Eastern Europe at Julius Baer, said the new Irish office will "enable Julius Baer to further expand its footprint” in Europe.
Julius Baer acquired Merrill Lynch’s international wealth management business outside the US in principle in August 2012.
The integration phase was launched in February 2013 and is expected to reach completion in the first quarter of 2015, and the large majority of the assets under management were transferred last year. It will increase the group’s presence to more than 25 countries and 50 locations.
In December, the bank completed the transfer of Merrill Lynch’s businesses in Lebanon, Bahrain and the UAE, giving the bank new footholds in Beirut and Manama as well as strengthening its presence in Dubai.
At the time, Julius Baer said Merrill Lynch’s businesses in Switzerland, Uruguay, Chile, Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, Spain and Panama had also started the transfer process and were moving ahead as planned.
In March, Julius Baer acquired a majority stake in Brazilian wealth manager GPS by increasing its ownership from 30% to 80%. It assumed a majority in GPS’s board of directors and appointed two members to the company’s executive committee.
Headquartered in Zurich, Julius Baer is the leading Swiss private banking group, with offices in key locations around the world. The group focuses on servicing and advising private clients in global wealth management. At the end of 2013, the company’s total client assets amounted to CHF348bn ($396bn, €286bn, £236bn), including CHF254bn ($289bn, €208bn, £172bn) of assets under management.
