Julius Bär has sold its institutional brokerage unit to Lightyear Capital, a US buy-out firm, for an undisclosed sum in the latest sign of distress in Switzerland's fund management industry.

The brokerage unit incurred a loss of Sfr20m (€13m) in the first half of this year and Julius Bär is unwilling to continue supporting the loss-making unit. Raymond Bär, chairman of the board of Julius Bär Holding, said: "We want to refocus on our traditional business of asset management."