VP Bank of Liechtenstein has made good use of the relationship managers it has hired recently and increased net new money in the first half of the year. The bank now plans to continue adding new bankers.
VP Bank net income increased 29 percent to 31.5 million Swiss francs in the first six months of the year, the company said in a statement today. The Vaduz-based bank in June had said that profit had been higher despite a fine of 9.9 million euros it was forced to pay to settle the tax dispute with Germany.
Client assets under management at VP Bank amounted to 37.4 billion francs at the end of the reporting period, up from 35.8 billion at the end of 2016. The performance-related increase in assets amounted to 0.5 billion, while the rest, 1.1 billion francs, was net new money.
Hiring Spree Pays Off
The bank has hired a string of new client advisers, additions that paid off. In the same period of 2016, VP Bank had lost 0.2 billion francs.
VP Bank will continue expanding its consultancy team: «The aim is to appoint a total of 75 client advisors in the intermediaries and private banking segments by the end of 2019, about half of whom in Asia,» the company said in the statement.
Further Hirings and Aquisitions Planned
In addition to organic growth, VP Bank will also continue to use the sound capital base to invest in growth by making acquisitions.
The cost-income-ratio improved during the first half of the year and reached 64.6 percent, compared with 68.9 percent a year ago. The Tier 1 ratio was 25.9 percent, compared with 25.7 percent, a sound capital base that allows CEO Alfred Moeckli to target further growth.
