Julius Baer shutting down in Panama

Julius Baer Group Ltd. is shutting down its Panama and Peru operations. The decision was made after the Swiss private bank’s strategic review of its Latin American business.

A spokeswoman for the company in Panama explained that the bank aims to keep client relationships in both countries, while relocating support staff to the Bahamas, Chile or Switzerland. 

“The closures of the Peru and Panama offices are the result of a recalibration of our local footprint,” the spokeswoman said.

 The private bank based in Zuric manages approximately $40 billion USD across Latin America. The move to leave the Panamanian market comes after a guilty plea by Matthias Krull, a German banker and employee of Baer in Panama. Krull was accused laundering $1.2bn that was stolen from Petróleos de Venezuela.