LGT, the bank owned by the first family of Liechtenstein, had a bumper year in 2015. Profit rose by almost a third and net asset inflow growth exceeded the one achieved by rival institutes.
LGT profit increased by 28 percent to 211 million Swiss francs last year, the Vaduz-based company said in a statement today.
Net interest income was up by a quarter, reaching 115.3 million francs. Income from services added 12 percent to 783.7 million, because of a larger asset base and strong client activity, LGT said. Trading and other operating income rose 16 percent to 250.4 million francs. Total operating income was 1.15 billion, 14 percent up from 2014.
Cost-Income Ratio Improvement
By contrast, operating expenses increased 8 percent to 818.8 million francs, with outlays for staff adding 6 percent compared from a year earlier. The cost-income ratio thus improved to 71.2 percent by the end of 2015 from 75.4 percent a year earlier.
LGT in 2015 had net asset inflows of 8.8 billion francs, corresponding to a growth rate of 7 percent, exceeding the performance of 2014. Both the private banking and asset management units contributed to the development and total assets under management amounted to 132.2 billion francs at year-end, up 2.7 percent from 2014.
«Optimistic» for 2016
LGT in the past five years acquired 40 billion francs in net new assets. The assets under management in the same period increased by more than 50 percent, the company said in the statement. The bank on Monday said it agreed to acquire a 75 percent stake in Vestra Wealth of the U.K., a wealth management boutique based in London with managed assets of 5.6 billion pounds. LGT hopes to gain a «significant foothold» in the British private-banking market through this acquisition, it said.
The bank, whose CEO is H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein, is «optimistic in its business outlook for 2016 and beyond».
