Switzerland’s banking group Raiffeisen, saw mortgage loan volumes reach record levels last year.
Raiffeisen Group posted a group profit of 1.18 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion) in 2022, it said in a statement Thursday. The cooperative bank, which consists of 220 banks, said that operational revenue increases drove its 10.6 percent profit increase over the previous year.
The market leader for Swiss mortgages saw mortgage loans rise 3.7 percent to 203.7 billion Swiss francs, bringing its mortgage volume over the 200 billion mark for the first time.
Despite a difficult market environment, Raiffeisen recorded a net new money inflow of 3.9 billion francs in its pension and investment portfolios. A total of more than 40,000 retirement and investment custody accounts were opened last year, 158 custody accounts per working day.
The number of pension custody accounts increased by 17.6 percent, the number of asset management mandates by 34.4 percent, and the number of fund savings plan custody accounts by 11.8 percent.
However, due to negative market developments, custody account volumes decreased by 4 billion Swiss francs to a portfolio of 41.1 billion Swiss francs, it added.
Raiffeisen expects business to be solid in the coming months. However, the market environment remains challenging, it said.