Corporate Center

Information unaudited Information ungeprüft Corporate Center

The Corporate Center plays a key role in the LLB Group. In a similar manner to the central nervous system, it monitors and steers important groupwide functions and provides the necessary information for efficient operations. The Corporate Center also makes a major contribution to the implementation of the corporate strategy, especially in relation to the digital transformation.

Service provider and enabler

The Corporate Center encompasses the Group CEO (see chapter Strategy and organisation), Group CFO (see chapter Finance and risk management) and Group CDO Divisions. All the organisational units, which coordinate, support and monitor groupwide business activities, processes and risks are integrated in this segment. In addition, it contains departments such as Marketing and Human Resources. In total, the Corporate Center bundles fourteen central business areas of the LLB Group:

The Corporate Center is focused completely on the requirements of the market divisions and thereby makes a direct contribution to the value added by the LLB Group.

Digital transformation

The ACT-26 corporate strategy envisages that the LLB Group will become more digital, more agile and more scalable in the coming years. The LLB.ONE program was set up specifically for this purpose. During the current strategy period, over CHF 100 million will be invested in digitalisation measures via this platform (see paragraph LLB.ONE).

The Corporate Center plays a key role in realising digital transformation. It ensures that the transformation is in line with the corporate strategy, that the correct resources are available and that both clients and employees are involved and properly supported. The Group CDO Division is the driver of the project. All the most important resources for the comprehensive change process are bundled in this division. The Group Digital Transformation Department, which was set up specifically for this purpose, is responsible for implementing these changes.

Shared Service Centers

The digital transformation is also facilitated and supported by Group shared services. The LLB Group’s Shared Service Center can call on an extensive range of professional and process competences. Thanks to the systematic centralisation of various operative services and the harmonisation of processes in the individual companies and business areas, synergy potentials can be exploited and efficiency enhanced. This applies equally for the maintenance of client master data and to the payment transfer process, as well as to foreign currency and securities transactions. As further examples, in 2023 LLB introduced groupwide standard processes for written and verbal payment orders, simplified the client life cycle and digitalised the processing of client mail. In response to the increasing volume and complexity of transaction administration, as well as the corresponding regulatory requirements, the Operational & Regulatory Service Department was set up in the reporting year. This restructuring of operations enables a sharper focus on automation and specialisation. All the initiatives undertaken by the Shared Service Center were guided by the same principle: to ensure the highest level of operative stability coupled with flawless quality in spite of increasing complexity.

LLB has recently become a member of the International Securities Services Association (ISSA). Membership of this organisation enables us to keep up to date with developments in the areas of financial market infrastructure and to actively shape these activities. LLB employees are represented in various ISSA project groups.

LLB.ONE

The further development of our products and services is one of the major goals of the LLB Group’s digital transformation, whereby the highest efficiency of processes and maximum client focus are the priority.  The LLB.ONE program is the platform which will drive these profound changes within the LLB Group. We utilise the latest technology to enhance interaction with our clients. In future, our clients can decide themselves when and through which channels they want to receive the LLB Group’s services. In addition, we are working on simplifying, standardising and automating our internal core processes. We take an agile and flexible approach in order to be able to react appropriately to our clients’ changing requirements. This means that existing procedures have to be critically analysed and, where required, adjusted and adapted. Up to the end of the current strategy period in 2026, CHF 100 million is to be invested in the programme. In the 2023 business year, the LLB Group reached the following milestones in its digital transformation:

• The expansion of our wiLLBe product offer to included call money in EUR, CHF and USD enables us to offer attractive savings conditions. As a result, in the second half of 2023, we gained thousands of new clients (see paragraph wiLLBe).
• The introduction of mobile payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay und Samsung Pay) brings added convenience for our clients when making payment transactions. For clients in Switzerland, we have added a further, attractive payment possibility with Twint (see chapter Retail & Corporate Banking).
• Three new account packages have been developed for “LLB Daily” for implementation in 2024. As a result, our product offer is substantially clearer and better suited to client requirements (see chapter Retail & Corporate Banking).
• Our digital mortgage lending option was significantly expanded. Client advisers now have the possibility of creating digital offers, and clients can independently extend and adjust their mortgages online.
• We have extensively re-engineered our mobile banking program to enhance our clientsʼ experience in all channels and to reduce development costs at the same time. Starting in 2024, clients will be successively relocated to the new program.
• In taking the decision to introduce a new customer relationship management system (CRM), we have set a new course for the future. Starting in 2024, the system will initially be installed in our advisory centre and subsequently expanded to other areas of the bank.
• At the same time, we have converted our working methods to agile and flexible value streams to achieve even sharper client focus in the development process and closer collaboration between the divisions.

wiLLBe

In 2023, we added more options to our wiLLBe app. In addition to enabling responsible investing in accordance with the sustainability objectives of the United Nations, this purely digital asset management app now offers a savings option for three different currencies (CHF / EUR / USD) at attractive interest rates in a call money account.

Furthermore, wiLLBe acts as a driver of technological innovation and cultural transition within the LLB Group (see also the interview on this topic).

“Within the LLB Group the wiLLBe investment app represents the spearhead of our digitalisation activities. It has provided us with large scope for learning in the field of modern technologies. This will ensure that we can continue to gain important experience in the future.”

Starting in the 2024 business year, the hybrid platform introduced in connection with wiLLBe will also be incorporated in our Mobile Banking program. New technologies, such as digital identification, are to be successively deployed in existing business areas. The same applies to the knowledge, tools and strategies that have proved effective in the successful marketing of wiLLBe.

Digital Workplace

At the LLB Group, the digital transformation involves not just the digitalisation of client experiences, processes and products, but also the work activities of our employees. Within the Group, we are driving forward the team@work Group project to renew the digital work infrastructure and to optimise work processes. During the 2023 business year, the priority was to accelerate the cloud transformation of digital tools and to provide our employees with expanded access to personal data via smart devices. The telephone system was converted to Microsoft Teams. The main priorities in the current business year include the further development of various performance measures and the extension of collaboration possibilities both within the LLB Group and with external partners.

Another goal of the team@work project is to simplify mobile working. In recent years, the working from home capacity was greatly expanded. The working from home regulations specify that employees can spend up to 40 per cent of their working time working from home (see chapter Employees).

New, modern office building in Vaduz

The dynamic growth of the LLB group means that more work space is required. As a result, a new office building – known as “Campus Giessen” – is under construction at the Group’s headquarters in Vaduz. This will provide office accommodation for around 250 employees and enable a centralisation of work places, which are currently dispersed in various, in some cases rented, buildings.

Every stage of construction of the four-storey building, from the planning and building phase through commissioning and start of regular business operations is strictly monitored to fulfil sustainability criteria. As a so-called green building, “Campus Giessen” will be awarded an LEED GOLD certification and the Minergie P-Eco standard.

The symbolic ground-breaking ceremony was held in August 2023. Completion of the building project and the move into the new offices are planned for the third quarter of 2025.

Responsible and sustainable investment products

The financial services industry plays an important role in the ongoing transition to a climate-friendly economy. At the LLB Group, Asset Management has attached a high priority to responsible and sustainable investing for many years. We offer sustainable asset management services both for individual securities and investment fund portfolios. Since 1 August 2022, the LLB Group’s investment advisory and asset management services have been fully aligned with responsible and sustainability criteria. We have also expanded our product range to include two new funds focussing on climate protection - so-called impact funds - which are considered sustainable investments within the meaning of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The goal is to develop investment products and services, which generate returns as well as meeting high ecological, social and ethical criteria, and therefore contribute to cushioning the impact of climate change. We underline our efforts to attain greater sustainability through our membership of the UN’s most important financial initiatives to protect the climate (see chapter Industry initiatives and corporate citizenship).

To enable our client advisors to keep up to date with these developments, since October 2020 we offer them an extensive range of sustainability training programmes. We also enable our staff to keep pace with sustainability issues by providing them with specific information briefings, such as industry updates, and with tutorials at focus meetings.

Sustainable investment approach

In selecting sustainable investments, we employ a systematic approach, which combines both negative and positive criteria. We exclude investments in companies, which violate important national or international norms, or with substantial turnover in controversial industries or sectors. We select companies, which predominantly consider or make a contribution to the three ESG themes, i.e. environment, society and corporate governance.

When making investments, in addition to their own extensive experience and expertise, our asset managers can call on our own independent investment concept, the “LLB Multi-Factor Model”. the goal of creating more added value for clients over the medium to long term. This provides a broadly based, quantitative analysis of large investment universes and therefore a sound basis for the selection of the most attractive securities. We consistently pursue.

For many years our investment products have achieved top positions in industry-wide comparisons and competitions. In 2023, the LLB Group again received several awards. For example, the LLB Inflation Protect (CHF) fund in the category “Mixed Umbrella Funds Bond-Focused - Dynamic” was ranked first by the Austrian “GELD-Magazin” and the “LLB Strategy Balanced ESG (EUR)” fund in the category “Mixed Umbrella Funds Balanced – Dynamic” was ranked in third place.

Asset management

Our clients ʼrequirements 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 five different sustainable strategies. These range from “Conservative” 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:  “ESG Sustainable Global Active”, “ESG+ Sustainable Global Active”, “ESG Sustainable in Switzerland”, “ESG Sustainable Alternative” or “ESG Sustainable 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 2023 stood at CHF 9.1 billion. (31.12.2022: CHF 9.0 billion).

Business segment result

The LLB Group reports the structural contribution from interest business, the value of interest rate hedging instruments and income from financial investments under the Corporate Center. In comparison with the previous year, operating income fell to CHF 27.3 million. The decrease was attributable primarily to interest business. On the one hand, due to treasury measures, earnings shifted into trading business, on the other, higher interest income in the market divisions was also a factor. Conversely, the structural contribution to the Corporate Center decreased. However, income from financial investments was higher. On account of further targeted investments in the ACT-26 strategy, operating expenses climbed, as expected, by 12.9 per cent to CHF 99.7 million.

Segment reporting

Additional information