«You can’t judge a daughter by looking at the mother,» was a classic line by blues-legend Bo Diddley. And an accurate description of how Basler Kantonalbank (BKB) and its unit Bank Cler fared during the first half of 2020, a period that was heavily impacted by the pandemic.

Bank Cler kept net income steady at 19.9 millionen francs, it said in a statement on Thursday. BKB meanwhile reported a drop of 6.5 percent to 50.9 million francs.

Interest Business Surge

The relative success of Bank Cler was achieved through its growth in the business with loans and assets as well as lower refinancing costs.

The interest business, which is particularly important for the bank, improved by a strong 5.7 percent to 89.2 million francs, while a reluctance by clients to trade led to a drop in the income from commissions and services as well as trading. The banking application Zak has 35,000 clients to date.

Jobs Shifted to BKB

Cler moved 70 of its staff over to BKB as the banking group developed so-called centers of competence. As a consequence of this shift, personel costs dropped by 13.7 percent from a year ago. Operating costs hence declined 2.3 percent to 84.6 million in the reporting period.