Julius Baer said Friday that 2008 net profit dipped on a drop in assets and subdued client activity, and vowed to keep its private banking strategy unchanged after the untimely death of unit head Alex Widmer last month.

The Zurich-based private bank for the wealthy said net profit for the 12 months ending December 31 was Sfr661m (€440m) compared with Sfr939.8m a year ago. The result missed analyst estimates, which averaged Sfr744.3m for the year.