Pictet dismisses M&A as disruptive

A wave of consolidation has been widely forecast for Asia’s private banking industry, but whether this is a healthy development for the market remains open to conjecture. Just last week Julius Baer announced plans to acquire the ex-US wealth management business of brokerage Merrill Lynch in a deal that sources indicate will double its Asia AUM, as reported. It comes after the Swiss bank announced two strategic alliances to build international scale. Scorpio Partnership had just …