The new CEO of scandal-tarnished Bank Alpinum Patrik Laeser tells finews.com how the Liechtenstein-based lender is seeking a comeback, after its regulator suspended proceedings for it to potentially lose its license.


Patrik Laeser, why isn't a bank like Alpinum simply dissolved after its numerous scandals in recent years?

Yes, we have been through a difficult time. I don't want to sugarcoat the issues of our past. We've overhauled compliance, risk management and strategy. The bank is healthy, and possesses a functioning infrastructure and processes as well as a solid capital base with a Tier 1 ratio of 24 percent.

«The darknet case happened, but the bank fulfilled its duty of care»

The bank is efficient and was operationally profitable for a long time. We can carve out a strong market position in wealth management and cooperation with fiduciaries and their clients with our new strategy.

The bank was beset by a fraudulent employee, a client tried to launder illicit darknet profits, Alpinum lost its correspondent bank for U.S. dollar payments, and dud loans alarmed your regulator. How was all this possible?

We can't deny the past. At the same time, we have to clarify that the view from outside isn't entirely correct.

In what way?

The darknet case happened, but the bank fulfilled its duty of care. The regulator didn't accuse us of anything in this regard.

The bank apparently wanted to sweep the employee embezzlement scheme under the carpet.

I'd like to clarify that there was no cover-up at any time and we adhered to the law at all times. The «front» employee caused 6 million Swiss francs ($6.6) in damages to the bank. 

«Entirely new management under my leadership»

The case triggered the board's decision to set up an entirely new control, compliance and risk system. As a result, we now comply with all anti-money laundering rules and duty of care requirements. This led to Liechtenstein's supervisor, the FMA, mothballing with immediate effect its process to revoke Bank Alpinum's license.

In a less favorable scenario, Bank Alpinum would have lost its license to operate? 

A new process would have been required for an actual revocation. There was no indication of this at any time. 

So the bank's attempt to cover-up fraudulent behavior had no consequences?

Again, we followed the rules. The board of directors corrected our risk and compliance set-up following a review of the case. We have an entirely new top management in office, under my leadership, since September.

Who owns Bank Alpinum?

Several representatives of Swiss transport and logistic firm Transinvest Holding have been behind the bank for more than ten years. One is entrepreneur Yousef Sherkati and his family.

The involvement of Yousef Sherkati's daughter, Elnas Azar Sherkati, as well as her husband – Peter Cott, Alpinum's chairman – is public.

That is correct. Ms. Sherkati is the secretary of the board. She doesn't hold any operational role.

You were previously with Credit Suisse's trust and insurance business for the past 17 years. Why did you move to Alpinum?

The entrepreneurial challenge was the catalyst for me. I quickly realized that I share the board's goals and visions, and that I see huge potential to reposition the bank as a wealth manager. Also as a digital gateway for financial intermediaries, specifically fiduciaries.

«We have limitations, but not overly onerous ones»

I knew that I was getting myself into a huge challenge.

Does Bank Alpinum still not have any U.S. dollar clearing?

This is also due to the FMA proceedings. The back story is that our service platform was cut off from our U.S. dollar correspondent bank. As a result, we couldn't clear U.S. dollars.

So you cannot carry our any U.S. currency-based business anymore?

Not quite. To be exact, it's about the transfer of U.S. dollars from one bank to another. We can still hold U.S. dollars or securities, or invest in the dollar. And we get by with the euro as a transaction currency, especially since our clientele is largely in German-speaking Europe as well as in Eastern Europe and in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. Of course, we have certain limitations, but they aren't overly onerous.

Are you looking for another correspondent bank?

The issue was not in focus during the FMA proceedings. We'll certainly look at it again as part of our new strategy.

Is it fun to grapple with so many legacy issues every day?

We've cleaned most of our legacy issues up. The immediate stop of the license revocation process was a first major milestone for us.

«Control systems were neglected»

It paves the way to stand out with our services.

What exactly triggered the regulatory proceeding?

One thing was the internal fraud case that we discussed, another was a credit portfolio of Balkan origin where control mechanisms were ignored.

Can you be more specific?

The bank established in 2018 that it needed to restructure a credit portfolio because the collateralized assets were no longer adequate. Alpinum's shareholders hived off these distressed assets into a separate entity, which is common for this type of situation.

«We want to fully digitally onboard foundations»

This was already part of our cooperation with Liechtenstein's financial regulator. Independent of that, we reviewed all client portfolios and added documentation. This was a board directive as part of the review, and a requirement of the revised duty of care in force in Liechtenstein since 2018.

You said before that a pillar of your strategy is digitally onboarding foundations. Can you explain?

Specifically, it's about digitizing the entire onboarding process for foundations – from client identification, various stakeholders, generating documents, to a digital signature. It is key that a fiduciary can take their client through the process online and communicate interactively with the bank.

What is the advantage of this tool for the bank?

A faster processing time, since the fiduciary is walking through the process with their client in real-time. It also leads to more efficiency for the bank and simplifies a lot of administration. In general, the dialogue is improved.

Foundations don't enjoy the best reputation. Aren't you running the risk of new illicit clients, acquired digitally?

Foundations need to be explained better to the public. Liechtenstein has done a lot, with its proactive «clean money» strategy and regulatory developments.

«Foundations in Liechtenstein are more transparent than some bank accounts in other countries»

The structuring of larger wealth pools via foundations, trusts, and corporations fulfills a need with very wealthy clients and families. And Liechtenstein has a long tradition of working together with fiduciaries.

Foundations are criticized as opaque financial vehicles.

I would counter that foundations, especially in Liechtenstein, are more transparent today than some bank accounts in other countries. 

How do you reach that conclusion? 

Because of their frequently sprawling structures, foundations need to report to various stakeholders in different jurisdictions, not last since the automatic exchange of information from the OECD as well as FATCA, the U.S. law came into effect. Bank accounts aren't subject to the same extent.

The second pillar of your strategy is wealth management – not particularly innovative.

Our focus is technology-supported portfolio management. All our mandates and strategies are reproduced with the help of technology, which wasn't possible before. We even returned better performance during the lockdown than our peers.

Assets nearly halved last year to 685 million francs, and your net loss deepened to 3 million francs. What is your goal for the bank and its currently 40 employees? 

Our financial results are due in two weeks. I can already tell you that withdrawals have slowed considerably.

«Targeting significant growth in a three-year plan»

We don't think we will turn a profit this year, but we have a three-year plan to grow significantly. We aren't targeting 20 billion francs but at least a cost-income ratio worthy of a private bank.

What would that be?

We don't disclose planning goals publicly, but we won't reach low rates like 50 to 60 percent anymore. Our investments in an extensive control, compliance, and risk framework cleaning up the past, and launching new services are good prerequisites to grow.

We have a lot of work ahead of us. We don't see everything through rose-tinted glasses, after the process to revoke our banking license was abandoned


Patrik Laeser took over as CEO of Bank Alpinum in September. Previously, he worked for Credit Suisse in the Swiss bank's trust and insurance business. We also worked for Swissair and Roland Berger before moving to the financial services industry. He graduated from the University of St. Gallen with a Master's degree in finance and capital markets.