ZURICH, July 25 (Reuters) - Swiss private bank Julius

Baer said on Thursday that inflows of client cash

during the first half of the year had improved, with wealthy

customers' concerns about the losses caused by the collapse of

property giant Signa fading.

The wealth manager had a tumultuous start to 2024, with its

CEO Philipp Rickenbacher exiting after the company reported

losses of 586 million Swiss francs ($663.80 million) on loans to

Signa.

Julius Baer, which this week named Goldman Sachs ( GS )

partner Stefan Bollinger as its new CEO, said net new money

totalled 3.7 billion Swiss francs in the six months to the end

of June, picking up from 1 billion in the first four months and

slightly above analysts' expectations of 3.5 billion francs.

Still, it was a sharp drop compared to the 7.1 billion franc

inflow a year earlier, and an unfavourable contrast with Swiss

rival EFG International which attracted net new money of 5.2

billion francs in the six months for an annualised growth rate

of 7.3%.

"After a challenging start to the year, Julius Baer is now

regaining its momentum," said interim CEO Nic Dreckmann.

"July...is only two to three weeks old, we've seen a

continuous good momentum," he told reporters.

When asked if clients' concerns following the Signa episode

had now abated, he said: "That's absolutely the case, we've

passed that one."

Analysts noted the acceleration in net new money during May

and June, although it was still at a low level for Julius Baer.

"It shows the bank is still trying to rebuild confidence and

this is going to take some time," said Bank Vontobel analyst

Andreas Venditti.

First-half adjusted net profit fell to 459.7 million Swiss

francs ($520.79 million) from 541 million francs a year earlier,

missing the consensus forecast of 490 million mainly due to a

big drop in net income.

($1 = 0.8828 Swiss francs)