Raiffeisen, the Swiss retail bank, is trying hard to distance the business from its fallen ex-boss, Pierin Vincenz. All the while, the bank had a most successful 2017 to report about.

Net income at the group increased by 22 percent to 917 million Swiss francs, the company said in a statement on its Website on Friday (in German language).

The main contribution behind this increase was the divestment of stakes in insurer Helvetia and banking software firm Avaloq, Raiffeisen said. The sales added 119.4 million francs to the group profit.

With almost 70 percent, interest income is still the biggest provider of revenue. The business increased 1.3 percent, while commissions and services added 5.9 percent.

Success at Private Bank

Notenstein La Roche, the group’s private bank, became smaller in 2017, but much more profitable. The division contributed 23 million francs to the bank’s net income, almost a third more than a year ago. Assets under management declined to 16.8 billion francs from 20.3 billion at the end of 2016. The divestment of the Eastern European business to Vontobel led to a decline of 2.14 billion in assets under management alone.

Focus on Former CEO

The focus was firmly on Raiffeisen this week, but for all the wrong reasons. The bank, which filed a criminal complaint against its former boss, Pierin Vincenz, didn’t comment further on this fact on Friday.

It merely reiterated that it was working to optimize its procedures to achieve best practice in governance. It seems that a clear distinction between private and corporate business interests hadn’t been achieved under the leadership of Vincenz, leading to this week’s arrest of the ex-banker.

The magistrate court in Zurich today or tomorrow will decide about the state attorney’s application to put Vincenz in custody.

Work to Be Done

The Swiss banking regulator meanwhile continues its enforcement procedure against Raiffeisen. The probe’s focus is on Investnet, a business acquired during Vincenz’s tenure, in which he later took a stake himself. Raiffeisen intends to sell the investment.

The bank’s didn’t make any additional statements about the accusations leveled at its former chief executive officer.