Liechtenstein's VP Bank achieved significant inflows of client money in Asia. By contrast, outflows in Europe continued. Intent on reversing the negative trend, the bank will start hiring more relationship managers.
VP Bank had 34 billion Swiss francs in client assets at the end of the first six months of 2016, 800 million less than at the end of 2015, the bank said in a statement today. A performance-related decline accounted for 500 million francs.
VP Bank achieved significant inflows of client money in Asia. By contrast, outflows of client money in Europe continued unabated against the backdrop of the regulatory environment.
Three-Year Hiring Plan
In total, clients withdrew assets totaling 200 million in the first half, an improvement from the year-earlier period, when the bank recorded an outflow of 500 million.
«In order to promote organic growth, we plan to hire an additional 25 senior client relationship officers per annum during the next three years as part of a recruitment offensive,» Alfred W. Moeckli, CEO of VP Bank, said according to the statement. «In addition, we are working at high pressure on developing new innovative services as part of our digitalisation strategy and making targeted investments in digital tools.»
Profit Drops on One-Time Effect
The bank had a first-half profit of 24.4 million francs, down from 40.9 million a year earlier. Profit in the previous year was boosted by a one-time gain from the merger with Centrum Bank. Excluding the effect of the non-recurring item of 25 million, net income for the first-half period increased by 8.5 million.
The cost-income ratio in the first half increased to 68.9 percent from 59.4 percent a year earlier. The tier-1 ratio was 25.7 percent, compared with 24.4 percent a year ago.
