Swiss private bank Julius Baer committed serious violations of supervisory requirements covering risk management and anti-money-laundering controls, Switzerland’s financial regulator FINMA said on Tuesday after concluding an investigation into the bank.
The findings relate to Julius Baer’s private-debt loans to a European group and its relationships with two Russian politically exposed persons, or PEPs. FINMA said the case represents its fifth enforcement proceeding against the bank in less than 10 years.
The latest action adds to a history of regulatory scrutiny of Julius Baer’s controls. In an earlier investigation concluded in 2020, FINMA found serious anti-money-laundering failures at the bank involving relationships connected to alleged corruption cases involving Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and FIFA. That investigation covered the period from 2009 to early 2018 and identified deficiencies in customer due diligence, transaction monitoring and risk management.
FINMA said in that earlier case that almost all of the 70 risk-selected business relationships it examined contained irregularities, as did the vast majority of more than 150 transactions selected for review. The regulator ordered Julius Baer to strengthen its anti-money-laundering systems, alter aspects of how client advisers were recruited and managed, and improve board-level oversight of AML responsibilities.
The new investigation is focused on a different set of activities, involving private-debt lending to a European group and banking relationships connected to two Russian PEPs. The regulator’s latest findings specifically concern both risk-management requirements and obligations designed to prevent money laundering.
The private-debt element is significant because Julius Baer had already faced financial and strategic difficulties associated with lending to a European corporate group. In 2023, the bank reported a major credit loss connected to its private-debt exposure and subsequently announced plans to withdraw from the private-debt business. The exposure was linked to the collapse of Austrian property and retail group Signa.
Julius Baer has since pursued a broader programme to strengthen risk and compliance management. In its 2025 strategic update, the bank said it had created a new risk organisation, strengthened accountability and reviewed its credit book as part of efforts to address legacy problems. It also appointed a new chief risk officer, Ivan Ivanic, effective July 2025.
The regulator’s findings also come amid heightened scrutiny in Switzerland of how private banks manage high-risk clients and politically exposed persons. FINMA’s enforcement record shows that deficiencies involving PEP relationships can result in serious findings when banks fail to establish adequately the origin, purpose or background of assets or transactions.
FINMA’s latest announcement did not disclose the identities of the two Russian PEPs or provide further details of the individual transactions in the investigation. The regulator generally limits publication of details concerning specific enforcement proceedings, although Swiss law allows it to publish final rulings naming parties when the relevant legal conditions are met.
The case therefore marks another regulatory test for Julius Baer as it seeks to strengthen its controls and restore confidence in its risk-management framework. The fifth FINMA enforcement proceeding in less than a decade places the latest findings within a longer record of regulatory intervention involving the Swiss private bank.
