Information checkedInformation unaudited Information geprüft Information ungeprüft New ACT-26 corporate strategy
The StepUp2020 strategy period, which had been extended by one year, ended with the 2021 business year. The strategy has yielded very positive results (see chapter “Strategy and organisation”). The follow-up ACT-26 strategy continues its successful growth path – and also stands for technological and sustainable transformation.
ACT-26 – growth, efficiency and sustainability
The new ACT-26 strategy is the next logical step in the LLB Group’s development. ACT-26 stands for taking action and also for acceleration and transformation (ACceleration and Transformation).
The strategy is based on three core elements:
Growth: Over the next five years, the LLB Group is aiming to once again significantly increase its business volume through a combination of accelerated organic growth and targeted acquisitions. The security and stability of the LLB Group combined with award-winning investment expertise and investment performance for private and institutional clients form the basis for this expansion. In Personal and Corporate Clients, we want to expand our position in Liechtenstein and our very strong standing in Switzerland.
Efficiency: In future, LLB will once again focus on providing personalised advisory services to its clients using a hybrid advisory model that is supported by technology. The digital client platform will be developed further and the range of digital products and services will be expanded for all client groups. The LLB Group wants to take an agile approach in order to be able to react to the changing needs of its clients. At the same time, it will also be streamlining, standardising and automating its core processes in order to increase efficiency and make the bank more scalable. The LLB Group will therefore be investing CHF 100 million into its digital transformation in the next five years.
Sustainability: Sustainability has been an integral part of LLB’s DNA for 160 years. In future, the LLB Group wants to play a leading role and is therefore setting ambitious goals for itself. For example, the LLB Group’s banking operations already became climate-neutral in 2021 – making it the first bank in Liechtenstein and one of the first in Switzerland and Austria to do so. Furthermore, the LLB Group has set itself the goal of becoming completely climate-neutral by 2040 – ten years earlier than most competitors – and all in line with the UN’s ambitious target to limit global warming to 1.5°C. To achieve this goal, the Group aims to significantly reduce the carbon emissions of its banking operations and those of its client portfolios. The bank will forge ahead with its ongoing process of making its own products sustainable while at the same time adding new, innovative products to its existing range.
Ambitious growth and financial objectives
In implementing the core elements of the new ACT-26 corporate strategy, the LLB Group is pursuing ambitious goals:
- Growth: Growth in terms of new client funds and loans to clients should be more than 3 per cent annually.
- Efficiency: In 2026, the Cost Income Ratio should not exceed 65 per cent.
- Sustainability: The net carbon emissions of the LLB Group should be reduced to zero by no later than 2040.
In addition to this, we are targeting a Tier 1 ratio of over 16 per cent.
ACT-26 with ambitious goals
The LLB Group is continuing to pursue an attractive and sustainable dividend policy. Whereas the distribution ratio was previously between 40 and 60 per cent of the net profit, it is now more than 50 per cent. Furthermore, the LLB Group aims for continuous dividend development.
Dual positioning
The LLB Group intends to achieve its ambitious growth and financial objectives through clear dual positioning in the market: a universal bank with strong local roots on the one hand and a secure and sustainable international private bank on the other.
With Liechtensteinische Landesbank in Vaduz and Bank Linth in eastern Switzerland, the LLB Group already has two successful regional banks. We want to expand this strong position and establish ourselves as the market leader in Liechtenstein and in eastern Switzerland. In terms of Wealth Management, the LLB Group wants to expand its position as a leading asset management bank in Austria, a unique fund powerhouse in German-speaking regions, a reliable partner in institutional transactions and an international private bank in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Alignment of the organisational structure
The strategic focus of ACT-26 will also be consistently implemented at the organisational level. Clients and technological change are at the heart of this shift. The LLB Group will now be comprised of five divisions instead of six.
With Personal and Corporate Clients and International Wealth Management, the LLB Group will have two clearly positioned market divisions going forward. The Retail and Corporate Banking Division will manage locally oriented private banking clients (FL / CH / D) as well as corporate and private clients in Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The International Wealth Management Division will focus on Austrian and international private banking clients as well as institutional and fund clients.
Beside the overall operational management of the LLB Group, the Group CEO Division will be focusing on the topics of sustainability and corporate culture. Asset Management will also come under this division going forward. The LLB Group will be positioning itself even more strongly as a sustainability-oriented investment bank in future and this is reflected in the organisational alignment.
To advance its strategic ambitions of becoming an efficient, digital and innovative banking group, the necessary change capacities and skills will be pooled in what was previously the Group COO Division. It will now be renamed the Group CDO (Chief Digital & Operating Officer) Division, and a Group Digital Transformation Business Area will be created.
The Group CFO Division completes the management structure of the LLB Group. Its key task, also under the new ACT-26 corporate strategy, will be to ensure that risks and opportunities are balanced carefully and in compliance with the law.
Corporate culture and value basis
With the new ACT-26 corporate strategy, the LLB Group has set the course for its successful development over the next five years. The successful implementation of the new strategy depends on the commitment of the employees and also a progressive corporate culture. The LLB Group has a culture that is at once unique and very strong (see chapter “Values and corporate management”). In the course of the development and conceptualisation of ACT-26, the cultural journey also became reinvigorated in the autumn of 2021 – here, client and result orientation will be the predominant topics over the next few years.