VP Bank has had a sluggish first half of the year. The bank however is receiving a lot of praise from investors for its decisive growth strategy. The number of staff grew by almost a tenth.
VP Bank had a profit of 29.3 million Swiss francs ($29.6 million) in the first six months of 2018, slightly down from 31.5 million in the same period a year ago, according to a statement on Tuesday.
Other key numbers at the bank, which is based in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, confirm the picture of a sluggish start to the year. Operating income was down 2.2 percent and net new money also declined; assets under management however increased 1.3 percent to 40.4 billion francs.
Happy Investors
And yet, investors seem more than happy with the performance of the bank. The stock prices had added more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year and the share buyback program announced earlier can’t have been the only reason.
VP Bank is expanding its business substantially and has added a lot of new staff recently. The number of personnel rose 9.3 percent from a year ago to 892, the bank said, boosting its personnel expenses. The cost-income-ratio worsened to 70.3 percent from 64.6 percent.
More Growth to Come
And the bank isn't yet done growing. VP Bank plans to expand further in the second half and is looking for relationship managers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Zurich and Vaduz.
«Thanks to our considerable financial leeway, we are well positioned to overcome existing challenges and play an active role in the banking industry consolidation process in Europe,» said Fredy Vogt, the chairman of the bank.
Asia's Role
The bank also emphasized the growing role of Asia within the company, upgrading the Singapore unit to branch and wholesale bank. VP Bank also will move into a new office block in Luxembourg in November, showing the importance of that branch as well.
