MILAN, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Julius Baer has looked at the private banking assets Dutch bank ING is putting up for sale but is not interested for the moment, the Swiss bank's chief executive was quoted as saying in an Italian newspaper on Sunday.
'It's a dossier that we have studied. For now, we are not interested, but we remain open to a discussion,' Chief Executive Boris Collardi was quoted as saying in Il Sole 24 Ore, the country's main financial newspaper.
Cash-strapped ING got up to five bids for some or all of its private banking assets, with offers for the full package running at close to $2 billion, sources familiar with the bidding process told Reuters earlier this month.
The sources identified Julius Baer as one of the bidders and some said it was the preferred bidder.
It was not possible to reach Julius Baer for comment.
Collardi told the paper he was studying quite a few other dossiers for possible acquisitions, but would not name them.
Asked about Italy, Collardi said: 'Italy is important. Julius Bear has been directly present there for a long time and recently we have bought Alpha Sim. We are lookign around.'
Collardi said a new Italian tax amnesty could be a chance for Julius Baer to gain clients onshore in Italy.
He saw the erosion of banking secrecy as an inevitable trend, although privacy protection would still exist.
Asked about the outlook for the bank, he said :'We are able to sustain growth as much internally as by acquisitions. I think we'll have a chance to demostrate it soon.'
(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova and Lisa Jucca; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Keywords: JULIUSBAER/ING (Zurich newsroom +41 58 306 7354, fax 41 44 251 0476, zurich.newsroom@news.reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'It's a dossier that we have studied. For now, we are not interested, but we remain open to a discussion,' Chief Executive Boris Collardi was quoted as saying in Il Sole 24 Ore, the country's main financial newspaper.
Cash-strapped ING got up to five bids for some or all of its private banking assets, with offers for the full package running at close to $2 billion, sources familiar with the bidding process told Reuters earlier this month.
The sources identified Julius Baer as one of the bidders and some said it was the preferred bidder.
It was not possible to reach Julius Baer for comment.
Collardi told the paper he was studying quite a few other dossiers for possible acquisitions, but would not name them.
Asked about Italy, Collardi said: 'Italy is important. Julius Bear has been directly present there for a long time and recently we have bought Alpha Sim. We are lookign around.'
Collardi said a new Italian tax amnesty could be a chance for Julius Baer to gain clients onshore in Italy.
He saw the erosion of banking secrecy as an inevitable trend, although privacy protection would still exist.
Asked about the outlook for the bank, he said :'We are able to sustain growth as much internally as by acquisitions. I think we'll have a chance to demostrate it soon.'
(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova and Lisa Jucca; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Keywords: JULIUSBAER/ING (Zurich newsroom +41 58 306 7354, fax 41 44 251 0476, zurich.newsroom@news.reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
