Private Banking

Information checkedInformation unaudited Information geprüft Information ungeprüft Private Banking 

For wealthy private clients, the LLB Group is a firmly established name. Above all they appreciate our stability and security, our high product and service quality, as well as our acknowledged investment performance. We gain the trust of our clients additionally thanks to first-class advisory competence, innovative digital applications and fair conditions.

Focus on clients

The bond with our clients is always the central focus of the LLB Group. The corona pandemic confronted this relationship with new challenges because the personal contact with them was at times impossible. However, our teams of advisers succeeded in overcoming the physical distance and utilised new banking communication channels to be close to their clients. The positive feedback we received showed that our personal, proactive advisory services were very much appreciated, irrespective of whether they were provided in person or digitally.

Stability and security

Its 160-year history makes LLB the longest established bank in Liechtenstein. As such, it has a very long tradition as a private bank. Wealthy clients trust in our vast experience and regard us as a reliable partner, who understands their wishes and requirements. The certainty that the LLB Group has been one of the most secure and best capitalised universal banks in the world for many years generates additional confidence. With its Aa2 deposits rating from Moodyʼs, it belongs to the absolute top rank of financial institutes in Europe (see chapter “Finance and risk management”). Furthermore, with the Principality of Liechtenstein as its majority shareholder, it can rely on a solid ownership structure. Liechtenstein is one of the very few countries in the world to possess an AAA rating with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s.

International presence – strong local ties

The LLB Group operates three booking centres and has a bank each in  Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria. The Private Banking Division is internationally active and maintains strong local ties through its brands “Liechtensteinische Landesbank” and “Bank Linth”. In Liechtenstein we are represented by two LLB bank branches and our headquarters in Vaduz, in eastern Switzerland we have seventeen Bank Linth branches, and in Austria we are present with a bank in Vienna and a new business location in Salzburg. Business bases in Geneva and Zurich, as well as in the United Arab Emirates supplement our international presence.

We attach great importance to meeting tax compliance requirements and strictly observing prevailing local and international regulations. By providing intensive training and clear instructions, we ensure that our employees fulfil the regulations of the target countries within the scope of their cross-border activities.

One bank group – three home markets

Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria, as financial centres, possess a high potential to attract investors, who are seeking security and stability for their investments. Consequently, for years we have posted very pleasing inflows of client assets in private banking from our three home regions – a development which continued impressively during the year under report.

Traditional cross-border markets

Selected western European markets continue to be important for our wealth management. We benefit here from our extensive experience and our clients’ trust in the quality of our services and the good performance of our asset management. Germany is Europe’s largest private banking market and in the year under report we registered a much higher level of interest in our service offers in this market. We are taking account of this development in our new ACT-26 corporate strategy, which envisages a strong expansion in the German market (see chapter “ACT-26”).

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Our Private Banking also looks after clients from Central and Eastern European EU states, Russia and CIS states. These markets are covered specifically from our business locations in Zurich (Erlenbach), Geneva, Vaduz and Vienna. Especially in economically and politically uncertain times such as these, the stability and competence of the LLB Group offers clients from these regions great added value. In the year under report, we again increased the client assets we manage from these strategic target markets.

Middle East

The LLB Group has maintained a representative office in Abu Dhabi since 2005. In  2008, this was followed by our business base in Dubai. In recent years we have significantly strengthened and expanded our position in the Middle East.

Private Banking International

With the introduction of the new corporate strategy, the two business areas Private Banking CEE and Middle East were amalgamated from 1 January 2022 into the  Private Banking International Business Area. As a result of the reorganisation, the  CEE Team will move from its former representative office in Erlenbach to Zurich city centre. Through this move, the LLB Group wants to emphasis its intention to grow in international private banking, especially in the Central and Eastern European market.

High level of product and service quality

Wealthy clients attach great importance to trust, competence, personal advice and individual solutions. The LLB Group’s private banking fulfils these expectations in every respect.

Outstanding advisory services

We regularly receive awards for the outstanding quality of our advisory competence. In 2021 again, our client advisors attained top results in the “Gold Segment” of the  independent comparison test carried out by the “Fuchsbriefe” publishing house. In the opinion of the jury, “the advisory discussion, the investment proposal and the transparency of the company were completely convincing (all three were very good).”

On the permanent list of best vendors, the Liechtensteinische Landesbank ranked sixth and is therefore among the leading private banking providers in the entire German-speaking region.

Investment counselling and asset management

For the management of their assets, clients can decide themselves what scope of service they wish to receive from their client adviser. This can range from basic to expert solutions. Private and institutional clients can find a product offering tailored to suit their requirements with “LLB Invest” and “Bank Linth Invest”. Various options are also available to them when it comes to investment strategies. Using technology-supported continual monitoring of the portfolios, our private banking client advisers ensure the security of the investments and a performance in line with the selected strategy.

Since the introduction of “LLB Invest” in 2016, the volume of asset management and investment advisory mandates has expanded steadily (see chart). In the year under report LLB Österreich also introduced this advisory model. So in 2021 again we succeeded in increasing the proportion of our “LLB Invest” services.

Holistic financial planning

With our “LLB Compass” and “Bank Linth Compass” services, we support private clients and entrepreneurs at all stages of life or the business cycle to help them achieve their future financial goals. LLB and Bank Linth therefore cover all the important themes such as wealth planning, financing facilities, retirement provisioning, real estate, taxation, estate planning and succession.

Fair and transparent pricing

The tariff structures of Liechtensteinische Landesbank are simple and clear, costs are visible at a glance (see chapter “Sustainability in banking”). LLB AG and Bank Linth forego retrocessions both in the provision of investment advisory and asset management services, i.e. LLB does not accept commissions from external fund vendors for the distribution of their products to the bank. We pass on 100 per cent of these payments to our clients. We employ performance-related fees with various asset management and investment advisory mandates, which are only payable if a positive return is achieved. Our interest-related fees are another innovative feature, which takes into account the prevailing low level of interest rates for the benefit of our clients.

Continual further training

The high quality of our advisory services can only be maintained thanks to continual investments in the further training and professional education of our employees. All our client advisers must complete the certification programme according to the standards of the Swiss Association for Quality (SAQ). In Austria, we provide training in line with the “European Investment Practitioner” (EIP) certificate programme, which is recognised throughout the EU. We have supplemented this programme with our own oral examination, thus upgrading it to comply with the SAQ certification (see chapter “Employees”).

In the increasingly important area of sustainable investments we have introduced our own training programme for client advisers. This ensures that our client advisers have the necessary expertise to be able to keep pace with the expansion of our range of products and services (see chapter “Sustainability in banking”).

Service and technology

In the year under report, we again expanded our Mobile and Online Banking programmes (see chapter “Corporate Center”). Clients of the LLB Group now have an overview of their assets everywhere and at all times. Numerous banking activities can now be carried out digitally and conveniently. The parallel offer of excellent personal advice coupled with digital services has proven its worth.

When continually analysing and monitoring client portfolios, our client advisers and analysts are supported by the latest technology. Highly sophisticated algorithms calculate the risk and return of individual financial instruments in order to enhance portfolio performance. Individual objectives and restrictions are automatically considered. If the risk / return characteristics of an investment do not fulfil the client’s criteria, the software flags up an alert automatically.

All the banks within the LLB Group now use the common Avaloq core banking system. This has enabled us to achieve a broad scope of synergy effects and further automate our operational processes. Furthermore, all our clients now benefit from the availability of our complete range of products and services.

Outstanding investment performance

One of the main reasons for the success of our private banking is the very good performance of our investment solutions. This is confirmed by the many international awards, which the Asset Management Division of the LLB Group has received for its outstanding expertise in recent years. The investment selection process for the portfolios follows the proprietary, multi-award-winning LLB quantitative investment concept, which we are continually refining and enhancing. As active managers, our asset management specialists are guided by benchmarks, with the goal of exceeding them in our own funds and mandates. This applies in both asset management and for investment funds. To ensure quality, we constantly invest in technology and the training of our investment experts.

Our asset management clients can select from five different implementation options with “LLB Comfort”. Depending on the client’s wishes, investments can be made with a focus on Switzerland, global, alternative, sustainable or passive investments.

In the year under report, the LLB Group again expanded its range of sustainable investment offers (see chapter “Institutional Clients”), The LLB Group is already a pioneer in this business sector and again registered a substantially higher demand from clients for sustainable investing in 2021.

Client focus with ACT-26

With its new ACT-26 corporate strategy, the LLB Group has defined the goal of being perceived as a secure, sustainable international private bank. The newly created International Wealth Management Division will play a pivotal role in realising this objective. This division consists of the business areas of the former market divisions Institutional Clients (excluding Asset Management) and Private Banking (excluding Private Banking Liechtenstein / Germany and Austria) – see chapters “ACT-26” and “Institutional Clients”).

In private banking, the emphasis will continue to be on stability, competence, professionalism and personal service. This will enable us to strengthen our position as the leading wealth management bank in Austria. Providing customised solutions for our clients will be of cardinal importance here.

For our international private banking clients, stability is of key importance. As one of the safest banks in the world, we can offer them comprehensive and cross-generational personal services in all aspects of wealth management.

Business segment result

At CHF 53.9 million, the Private Banking segmentʼs profit before taxes was 44.9 per cent higher than the previous yearʼs result. Operating income increased by CHF 19.8 million to CHF 134.2 million. This was mainly attributable to the service and commission business, which was the largest revenue driver. Thanks to the increase in client assets, net fee and commission income developed positively and rose by 24.0 per cent to CHF 100.6 million. Operating expenses increased slightly to CHF 80.2 million. In the previous year, the adjustment of the conversion rate of the LLB Pension Fund had a one-off positive impact on personnel expenses. Net new money inflows of CHF 3.1 billion confirm the positive growth trend of recent years. The segment achieved significant inflows particularly in its home market of Austria as well as in the two growth markets of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In addition to the positive market performance, client assets increased to CHF 21.4 billion. Business volume increased to CHF 23.4 billion.

Segment reporting

Performance figures

Additional information