ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss private bank Julius Baer reported an 18% increase in net profit for the first half of 2023 on Monday as it said it also increased its assets under management and attracted more money from rich clients.

The Zurich-based wealth manager said net profit attributable to shareholders rose to 531 million Swiss francs ($613.23 million) from 451 million Swiss francs a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, net profit for the group of 541 million francs factoring out operating expenses related to acquisitions or divestments missed expectations for an adjusted net profit of 557 million francs in a poll of six analysts compiled by news wire AWP.

During the six months to the end of June, Julius Baer saw its assets under management increase to 441 billion francs, as it attracted 7.1 billion francs in new money from wealthy clients the bank said.

The figure was slightly more than the 6.8 billion francs predicted by analysts who expected Julius Baer to get a boost from rich people seeking new homes for their money.

The results mark a pick up from May, when Julius Baer disappointed investors who had expected the bank to benefit from Credit Suisse's troubles, by reporting modest inflows of 3.5 billion Swiss francs for the first four months of the year.

Deutsche Bank Research analyst Benjamin Goy said Credit Suisse's collapse has the potential to be a major accelerator for Julius Baer over the next two to three years.

"We expect hiring of relationship managers to rise, driving net new money above historical average from 2H23 onwards," he wrote in a note.

($1 = 0.8659 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Noele Illien; editing by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi)