For time immemorial, we have been shaped by interpersonal relationships and the urge to seek out the new and unknown: trade, commerce and communication have played a pivotal role for mankind over the millennia. In the process, humans left their familiar surroundings and, driven by curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, ventured out to the four corners of the world on journeys of discovery.

So by no means is globalisation a new phenomenon, and it is certainly not just an invention of the Europeans. Its roots are to be found in the centuries-old avenues for buying, selling and communicating that have stretched since antiquity across the Mediterranean region, Africa and the Middle East, all the way to India, China and ultimately North and South America.

The creative leitmotif of our 2012 annual report is: “on the move”. By highlighting the key trade routes of the past four thousand years, it illustrates the dynamic force and flow that has always carried humanity to new horizons.

The rendering of banking services has forever gone hand-in-hand with this evolution of trade and communication. And the means and modes of payment along these routes have been constantly refined.

VP Bank itself is also “on the move” by discovering new products, new advisory approaches, new markets – and above all, new contacts to people and new clients. A passion for the new plays the most important role in VP Bank’s way of exchanging ideas and communicating. So navigate with us through the various passages of this annual report and get to know more about VP Bank.

The heyday of trade companies emerged in the era of mercantilism. In the early 16th century, the Republic of Venice dominated the Mediterranean region and, thanks to its connections, trade in the Middle East. The ensuing years saw great colonial empires arise as a result of military protection, extended transport routes, economic hegemony and legal ties to this colonial power.

A number of so-called “Indian companies” were established in the 17th and 18th centuries by various European countries as a means of organising trade with the colonised areas. At the time, the term “Indies” referred to practically all of the newly discovered regions that could be reached via the eastern route (East Indies) or western route (West Indies), in other words not just the areas in the Asian region but also the colonies in the Americas and Africa. The most famous of these trading giants was the British East India Company, which was granted a charter, initially for 15 years and then in perpetuity, to conduct all trade between England and the Asian subcontinent. It received its own official seal, was allowed to elect its own governor and directors, and had permission from the Crown to adopt its own corporate laws, erect fortresses, conscript troops and mint coins. An English delegation sent to India’s Great Mogul obtained the right to establish trading posts on the west coast of peninsular India. The company’s business – trading in wool fabrics, spices, tea, etc. – flourished and ultimately exerted a considerable influence on the political circumstances in India.

In 1813, the company first lost its special trade rights, later also the rights to govern civil and military matters, and after 1834 became merely an administrative body of the British government. The last meeting of its directors was held on 30 August 1858.