The listed private bank has underscored the importance of Asia to its business by raising capital via Singapore - saying it is the first foreign bank to take this course.

Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank which has made Asia a core part of its expansion strategy, announced yesterday it had placed S$450 million ($317 million) of securities with private banks and other institutions as part of a capital-raising move.

The issuance is designed to fit the bank’s capital structure more tightly with the latest international bank capital rules.

The Zurich-listed bank chose Singapore – and the Singapore dollar market – for its capital-raising; the bank has stated that Asia is its second home market. It placed perpetual non-cumulative Additional 1 securities. The securities carry a coupon of 5.90 per cent and include an optional redemption call on 18 November 2020 or on 18 November of each year thereafter.

The securities will be issued in denominations of S$250,000 and multiples thereof, the bank said in a statement.

“We are proud to be the first European bank issuing an AT1 instrument denominated in SGD directly into the Singapore market,” Dieter Enkelmann, chief financial officer of Julius Baer, said.

“It strongly diversifies and globalises our AT1 investor base which was enabled through our much increased brand awareness in Asia following the acquisition of the former Merrill Lynch International Wealth Management (IWM) business outside the US,” he added, referring to the bank’s acquisition over a year ago of the non-US wealth management business of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

(To view latest financial results from Julius Baer, click here.)