ZURICH, May 23 (Reuters) -

Julius Baer on Thursday reported net new money of 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.09 billion) in the first four months of 2024, undershooting forecasts, as the Swiss bank struggled to shrug off the fallout from its ties to collapsed property group Signa.

Assets under management at Baer rose 10% to 471 billion francs during the same period, driven by a positive currency impact and by strong stock markets.

Vontobel analyst Andreas Venditti had expected the lender to report 5.7 billion francs in new money for the period as newly hired relationship managers get up to speed, whereas RBC analyst Anke Reingen expected the inflows to be more muted at 2.5 billion francs, driven by a slow start to the year.

In a statement, the bank said that after "a negative start in January," net new money recovered to a 3% annualised pace over the subsequent three months.

In 2023, Baer increased its number of relationship managers by 95 and reported net inflows of 12.5 billion francs for the full year.

The Swiss lender had been tipped to benefit from Credit Suisse's downfall but it reported a

586 million Swiss franc write off

from its exposure to collapsed property group Signa, which also cost former CEO Philipp Rickenbacher his job.

The bank is yet to announce who will replace him but has said it is looking for an external candidate and hopes to make an announcement by summer.

The wealth manager has previously said it will

cut 250 jobs

in 2024, impacting around 3% of the bank's workforce. ($1 = 0.9144 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Noele Illien)