Julius Baer defends “optimistic” wealth forecast

Swiss private bank Julius Baer was accused of being overly optimistic yesterday as it delivered its forecast for growth in Asia’s high-net-worth community. The firm, which itself has been building significant scale in the region via acquisition and strategic alliances, expects the community to grow to almost three million with combined wealth of $16.7 trillion by 2015. The projection formed part of its second annual wealth report. In its first, announced in August last year, the…