Liechtenstein-based VP Bank plans to hire a large number of relationship managers over the coming three years. CEO Alfred Moeckli told finews.com that he will also consider taking on more experienced staff, bankers of a riper age.
VP Bank Chief Executive Alfred Moeckli has big plans for his company. The manager wants to boost assets under management to 50 billion Swiss francs from a current 36 billion by 2020 and increase net income to 80 million francs from 22 million, he told the media at a conference in Zurich. To reach the ambitious targets will require hiring additional relationship managers and making acquisitions.
VP Bank aims to hire 75 relationship managers within three years. They will need to be in direct contact to customers and bring along their own book of clients. The bank currently employs about 135 such bankers.
Asian Growth
Half of the new relationship managers will be working in Asia, where VP Bank has branches in Singapore and Hong Kong. The rest will join the existing teams in Switzerland and in the Principality and will take care of markets in Germany and Eastern Europe – primarily Russia.
The company so far this year has signed on 13 relationship managers, including private bankers of more than fifty years of age, Moeckli told finews.com in an interview. They used to work for banks who caught the headlines recently and now faced the task to transfer their clients to VP Bank, the 57-year-old manager said.
Meet Targets or Leave
It has become more difficult to take along clients to a new employer in recent years as banks have become better at making customers stay. Evidently, banks with a tarnished reputation will face a tougher time retaining clients. The relationship managers signed on by VP Bank receive strict targets to reach within 12 months. If they fail, they will have to leave the bank again, Moeckli said.
The VP Bank CEO didn’t want to elaborate on the performance targets set. In Asia, the targets are however more ambitious than in Europe, because the growth potential is bigger. The definition of a sustainable client book involves assets under management of at least 100 million francs.
Acquisition a Must
The company will also have to make an acquisition to reach its targets for 2020, Moeckli said. The bank has enough capital to buy a company with about 25 billion francs in assets under management.
VP Bank has about 400 million francs to pay for an acquisition, according to VP Bank CFO Siegbert Naescher, in addition to VP Bank shares worth 80 million and the option to issue a corporate bond worth another 60 million.
Global banks currently tended to reevaluate their private-banking units, Moeckli said. VP Bank last made an acquisition in 2014, when it bought Centrum Bank, based in Vaduz. The transaction has been successfully concluded, the CEO said.
