Institutional Clients

Information checkedInformation geprüft Institutional Clients 

The LLB Group is a reliable partner for financial intermediaries and institutional clients. We offer outstanding investment competence with our specialised and innovative services and our broadly based investment fund powerhouse. Comprehensive expertise and personal service are our hallmarks.

Specialised in serving professional clients

Irrespective of whether they are fiduciaries, asset managers, fund promoters, family offices, insurance companies, pension funds or public institutions, one thing they all have in common is that they should manage and increase the capital entrusted to them as effectively as possible. As a partner, the LLB Group offers optimum conditions for this purpose. Highly specialised contact persons are readily available to listen to client concerns and provide competent advice. Our client advisers have completed a certification programme according to the standards of the Swiss Association for Quality (SAQ) and they are regularly tested and recertified.

We offer every client, who commissions us to manage his assets, excellent investment and advisory competence, as confirmed by the many awards we have received from various, independent institutions (see paragraph "Asset Management"). We not only want to offer our clients the best possible service today, we also want to learn about their future requirements. For this purpose we regularly carry out client surveys. In the most recent survey in the year under report, our clients confirmed their great satisfaction with our advisory services and, at the same time, they praised our digital app. These regular surveys also enable us to explore improvement potentials and develop them for the benefit our clients.

Digitalisation for closer relations with clients

By providing them with innovative digital apps, our professional clients in particular can structure their interaction with us in a more efficient, personal and convenient manner. With this aim in mind, we once again expanded our digital channels and features in the year under report.

These efforts have proven their worth especially during the corona crisis in the year under report. For example, despite the restricted personal contact possibilities, we were still able to maintain close contacts with our clients and satisfy their needs and concerns without any reduction in quality. The duality of our services – personal advice coupled with digital services – is appreciated by our clients and utilised where appropriate for the individual case.

Fund powerhouse

Investment fund business is an important earnings pillar of the LLB Group offering great growth potential. In the year under report, our investment fund business attained a growth in volume of CHF 2.1 billion (2019: CHF 6.0 billion). The fund assets it manages reached a volume of CHF 38.7 billion (2019: CHF 36.6 billion).

Our four investment fund companies in three countries offer clients access both to the European and the Swiss economic areas. This makes us one of the most versatile fund vendors in Europe: added value that our clients seek, appreciate and use more and more often.

Our fund management companies focus on providing private label fund solutions (known in Austria as special funds or "Master-KAG" solutions), which can be structured very flexibly. They enable large volumes of assets to be efficiently managed and structured. In line with our "all in one shop" concept, we offer our home markets all the products and services involved in private label fund business. This creates the maximum degree of flexibility to enable us to fulfil our clients’ wishes. We plan and set up made-to-measure funds, both in-house and for independent asset managers, family offices and other promoters. We structure and manage these vehicles and ensure modern, state-of-the-art risk management. At our business locations in Vaduz and Zurich, we complement our services by assuming a representative function for foreign funds. In Liechtenstein and Austria, we take over the function of custodian bank / depositary.

In 2020, we intensified the marketing of our fund powerhouse. Thanks to our redesigned website and new brochures, our products and services are clearly and comprehensively presented. Our aim here is to anchor our range of products and services more firmly, especially in our home markets.

Fund business in Liechtenstein and Switzerland

Through LLB Fund Services AG we operate a fund management company in Vaduz which – based on its holistic and needs-oriented advisory approach – covers the entire spectrum of private label fund services ranging from the setting up of a fund, to the initial issuing of units, all the way to the provision of services throughout the life cycle of the fund. Thanks to its membership of the EEA and its customs agreement with Switzerland, Liechtenstein offers unrestricted access to two economic areas – to Switzerland and the European Union – and thus complete flexibility (see chapter "Values and corporate governance").

Through LLB Swiss Investment AG in Zurich the LLB Group has access to the Swiss growth market. LLB Swiss Investment AG offers its clients tailor-made, efficient fund management, as well as compliance and risk management services according to Swiss law. In addition, it takes over the representative function for foreign funds in Switzerland.

Family offices in Switzerland, in particular, are discovering the many advantages, from the withholding tax perspective, of a Swiss investment fund solution for Swiss equities, supplemented by funds according to Liechtenstein law to cover the remaining investment universe. This business area posted a net new money inflow of CHF 948 million in Liechtenstein and in Switzerland in 2020. In comparison with the previous year, we were able to increase the fund volume by 7 per cent to CHF 19.3 billion. At the end of 2020, we managed or held in custody a total of 322 investment funds.

Fund business in Austria

With its two capital investment companies, LLB Österreich is one of the leading vendors of investment and real estate funds in the Austrian market. In 2020, LLB Invest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft recorded another very strong year. Measured in terms of the number of managed funds, it came in first place for the first time on the Austrian investment fund market.

For more than fifteen years, LLB Immo KAG has been very successful in real estate funds business and is the innovation leader in this business in the Austrian market. It manages a public fund, a large-scale investor fund and two special funds. LLB Immo KAG invests directly in high-yield real estate in the stable Austrian and German markets. It pays special attention to the profitable management of properties and the continual, qualitative growth of its portfolios. One of the key priorities of LLB Immo KAG is the consideration of sustainability criteria in its management of the real estate funds. One of its funds was awarded the Austrian eco-label, the highest sustainability certification for real estate funds. It obtained an ÖGUT (Austrian Society for the Environment and Technology) assessment for two other real estate funds to verify the sustainable orientation of the two products. Real estate funds are generally regarded as a first-class diversification possibility for portfolios and, especially in the persisting low interest rate environment, as a stable earnings generator.

In comparison with the previous year, the Institutional Clients Austria business segment increased its fund volume by 4 per cent. The net new money inflow amounted to CHF 628 million.

LLB as custodian bank for funds

As a pioneer in custodian bank business for funds, LLB has successfully enhanced its market leader position in Liechtenstein. More and more clients appreciate and utilise our acknowledged expertise in the management and administration of complex fund mandates having various strategies and asset classes. In this context in 2020, we attained a new record with 57 new funds. This success is underpinned by our high service quality, our comprehensive product offering and our acknowledged experience. Another prime factor is the Liechtenstein investment fund centre, which we want to promote more intensively in other countries. We are therefore actively participating in the roadshows organised by the Liechtenstein Investment Fund Association in the German-speaking region and, in fact, taking a leading role.

LLB Österreich also offers its clients all custodian services from one source. In this business area it not only looks after the bank’s own securities and real estate capital investment companies, but also those of external fund management companies in Austria and non-EU investment funds. In the year under report, the number of funds was increased to 362, the volume of booked assets expanding by over EUR 800 million to a total of EUR 17.9 billion.

Financial intermediaries

We are passionate about looking after professional clients. In close cooperation with our outstanding Asset Management team and our investment fund specialists, we can offer our clients made-to-measure investment solutions, as well as comprehensive execution-only services. The direct contact with our clients is of cardinal importance to us. To facilitate their work, we are continually investing in digital user interfaces and functions for our clients. The results of the client survey carried out in the year under report confirm the validity of our approach.

Expansion of digital services for our clients

Financial intermediaries depend on efficient, end-to-end solutions with their bank. Standard processes have to be fast and unbureaucratic, so that they have more time for their clients. The LLB Group supports intermediaries with personal advice and user-friendly digital tools. Our digital form centre, which was introduced during the second half of 2020, represented a quantum leap in this context. Thanks to its intuitive user navigation and clear structure, the client onboarding process is simplified and the time and effort required by intermediaries are reduced substantially. The provision of an electronic signature means that the process can be completed digitally in future, making it even faster. The digital signature possibility is already in operation for individual bank forms. Further applications are continually being evaluated and realised.

In the year under report, we also optimised our Online Banking. Navigation and a specially designed dashboard were introduced for our professional clients and supplemented with "Pro Modus". The latter enables spread sheets to be filtered, sorted and comprehensively analysed. An export function makes the configured contents available for downloading. The positive feedback from our clients to this offering confirms for us that we are on the correct course.

Our innovative "LLB Portfolio Analysis" tool is now also available at LLB Österreich, as well as for the clients of the parent bank and Bank Linth. This enables intermediaries to analyse portfolios, compare them with selected benchmarks and place stock market orders directly.

Business compliance function

The regulatory requirements for financial service providers are becoming increasingly extensive and complex. Among the top three services expected from a bank in the future mentioned in our client survey was assistance with regulatory issues. This trend was already identified several years ago and a business compliance function was set up to provide our financial intermediaries with the best possible support. Our specialists advise them in complex business cases, they carry out preliminary clarifications and support them through internal bank processes. Our clients greatly appreciate this service. The ever more complex requirements facing our clients have induced us to deploy substantially more resources to this function.

Asset management

For many years the market environment for investments has been very challenging. Accordingly, it requires great experience and expertise to be able to make the right decisions here. The LLB Group’s Asset Management team combines these qualities. Our specialists have extensive experience in fulfilling the investment needs of private and institutional clients. All three market divisions call on this vast expertise in their individual target regions (see chapter "Strategy and organisation"). The Asset Management team therefore plays a central role within the entire Group.

Around fifty LLB investment funds are actively managed by experienced fund managers and are usually licensed for distribution in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

Our Asset Management has been GIPS certified for almost twenty years. These international quality standards are based on complete and correct disclosure, as well as comparable presentation of investment results. They ensure that clients receive fair and transparent reports.

Sustainable investment products

The market for sustainable investments is growing exponentially. For the LLB Group’s Asset Management this development has been a priority for many years. The sustainability Group project launched in the year under report is another clear sign of the intensification of our activities in this area. We offer sustainable asset management for both portfolios composed of individual securities and investment fund portfolios. In addition, we have converted the majority of fixed interest LLB funds into sustainable investments. In 2021, we will continue with the conversion of our range of products. Our sustainability concept will also be applied to the strategic orientation of LLB equity funds and when launching new strategy funds. Our goal is to develop investment products and services, which strive to achieve a financial return while also satisfying the highest ecological, social and ethical criteria. By committing to the UN financial initiative relating to Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) in summer 2020, we underlined our efforts to encourage the responsible management of capital investments.

Sustainable investment concept

When selecting sustainable investments, our Asset Management is supported by a systematic concept, which combines negative exclusion and positive selection criteria. Excluded are investments in companies, which violate important national or international standards or which derive a substantial part of their turnover from controversial industries and sectors. Investments are made in companies, which predominantly consider the three ESG themes (environment, social and governance).

Furthermore, in the year under report, LLB together with the University of Liechtenstein launched a research project on sustainable investments. The project will receive funding for two and a half years from Innosuisse and is also being co-financed by the Liechtenstein government. The scientifically based innovation results derived from the project should show up new practical ways of managing sustainably oriented investment funds.

When making investments, in addition to their extensive experience and expertise, our asset managers can call on our own concept: the "LLB Multi-Factor Model". This provides a broadly based quantitative analysis of large investment universes and therefore a sound basis for the selection of the most attractive securities. The use of the LLB Multi-Factor Model in our range of equity funds enables us to generate clear added value for our clients. For many years, our investment products have achieved top positions in industry-wide comparisons and competitions. In 2020, the LLB Group was again the recipient of the prestigious Refinitiv Lipper Awards. Our LLB Equities Dividend Pearls Global (CHF) fund won in the category "Equity Global Income". This the third time in succession that this fund won an award; in 2020, the award was for its performance over ten years.  

Asset management

Client requirements are always at the forefront at the LLB Group. To enable clients to invest their assets according to their investment horizon and their personal risk tolerance, we offer six different investment strategies. These range from "Fixed Interest” to "Equities" in the reference currencies CHF, EUR and USD. In implementing their investment strategy, our clients can now select from five different models. For example, with the "LLB Comfort Offering", depending on the client’s wishes, investments can be made in the categories: global active, in Switzerland, alternative, sustainable or global passive. In addition, with its total return concept, LLB Österreich offers a mandate focusing on value preservation.

The volume of assets under management at the end of 2020 stood at CHF 8.8 billion (2019: CHF 8.7 billion).

Partner-like dialogue and transfer of knowledge

The transfer of knowledge and the strong networking with external partners is particularly important for intermediaries. We encourage this exchange of views, opinions and knowledge using various channels.

Our "LLB Xpert Views" online platform is a central point of contact for fiduciaries, independent asset managers, investment fund managers and fund promoters. Via this online platform we can make available our know-how in the areas of asset management, as well as law and taxation to our clients. Moreover, "LLB Xpert Views" supports our professional clients in complying with the latest regulatory provisions.

The personal exchange of views and experience is also very important to us. We therefore organise exclusive round-table discussions several times a year with intermediaries. Within the context of these discussions, LLB internal experts and investment specialists regularly inform clients about current practical issues. On account of the corona crisis we were unable to hold any round-table discussions in the year under report. As soon as the general situation permits, we shall offer these events regularly, especially because, in addition to the transfer of knowledge, our clients particularly appreciate the opportunity to exchange personal views and opinions.

Moreover, we maintain very close contacts with various associations and financial centre players so that we can learn from them which issues are currently of importance and which may become so in the future. This enables us to actively participate in shaping the framework conditions, which determine our business model.

Partnerships with financial centre players

LLB participates actively in various networks and thus secures an audience in the financial services sector for its views. The Group company, LLB Asset Management AG, is a member of the Liechtenstein Association of Independent Asset Managers and a committed partner in the development of the financial centre. At the same time, the Group company, LLB Fund Services AG, is a member of the executive board of the Liechtenstein Investment Fund Association, which actively shapes the basic framework of the Liechtenstein fund centre. LLB Österreich is a member of the executive board of the Association of Austrian Investment Companies – the umbrella association of all Austrian administration companies and all Austrian real estate capital investment companies. In January 2021, it also became a member of the Austrian Society for Sustainable Real Estate Management.

In Zurich, LLB Swiss Investment AG is a member of the Swiss Funds & Asset Management Association, the representative trade association of the Swiss investment fund and asset management industry.

Business segment result

At CHF 58.6 million, the operating income of the Institutional Clients segment was below the result of the previous year. The plunge in US dollar interest rates as well as the increase in provisions for credit risks adversely affected interest income. In the previous year, the segment had benefitted in addition from higher performance-related earnings in fee and commission business. In contrast, on account of higher trading activity, trading income developed positively and was CHF 4.5 million above the previous year’s figure. Operating expenses climbed to CHF 65.9 million. The release of provisions was included in the equivalent period for the previous year. Adjusted to consider this effect, operating expenses were slightly below the previous year’s levels. With high net new money inflows of CHF 1.9 billion, the segment reconfirmed the positive development of recent years.

Segment reporting

Performance figures

Additional information