Employees of VP Bank

For a number of years now, the business environment for private banking has posed tremendous challenges for the financial services industry: heightened regulatory requirements for products and services, more intense competition and lower margins, combined with the changed needs of clients. 

VP Bank Group faces these challenges by having a correspondingly flexible organisation and appropriately fine-tuned processes. The interplay between the business units and various local offices is a crucial element in rendering all of the Bank’s services. But ultimately, it is our employees who face these challenges and facilitate this interplay. With their specialised know-how, commitment and readiness for any necessary adjustments, they are the key to VP Bank Group’s success. And that applies to all of the Bank’s employees, across all hierarchical levels and areas of expertise, and regardless of whether or not they have direct client contact.

Especially in the financial services business, the decis­ive resource for gaining and maintaining the trust of clients is a team of motivated, competent and service-oriented employees who possess keen interpersonal skills. VP Bank Group is mindful of what a positive office environment means to employees, and offers them an array of opportunities. Precisely in trying times when the goal posts are constantly being shifted, VP Bank Group treats its employees with respect and openness in all situations and fosters constructive collaboration.

In 2007, a specific Group-wide strategy for managing human resources (HR) was derived from the overall corporate strategy and approved by the Board of Directors. Measures were defined and, to the extent possible, implemented in the ensuing years. The paramount objective of the HR strategy, i.e. handling the daily personnel-related matters, has never changed: at all locations, the proper people must be in place at the proper time and in sufficient numbers, and in particular must have the requisite professional know-how and the relevant skills. To the extent they are known, future developments are also taken into account and proactively included in the activities.

Through collaboration within the VP Bank Group, synergies are exploited. Cooperative relationships with external partners are also called upon in an effort to achieve good results in the personnel work.

Many people are involved in the management of human resources. They include in particular the line supervisors and local HR heads, the central HR employees, as well as local management and that of the Group. It is therefore necessary to appropriately define and coordinate the interactions through the allocation of tasks, competencies and responsibilities, as well as to establish the procedures for the most important incidents (such as recruitment, departure, salary determination, promotion, etc.). Particularly in terms of employee development – a core element of personnel work – the proper interaction between the responsible supervisors, the employees themselves and the HR specialists is decisive in achieving the desired results.

For many years now, the defined HR process and its various sub-processes have been an indispensable aid in this shared personnel work. Any necessary adjustments come to light from its repeated application. Identified possibilities for optimisation are promptly translated into reality, thereby keeping the various processes up to date.

In terms of corporate management, the MbO (Management by Objectives) process is accorded a central role. At Group level, the first step is to break down the agreed goals of VP Bank Group and assign the related responsibilities to the Group companies and business units. At the individual level, the corresponding goals and primary tasks are subsequently agreed for each employee. Through this process, the employees’ activities are systematically steered in the desired direction and the ultimate achievement of the Bank’s goals is coordinated with the individual goals. 

At the end of the given period, the supervisor assesses the accomplishments of the employee as a means of establishing the basis for a performance-oriented remuneration component. The supervisor takes into account the extent to which the employees have achieved their goals and fulfilled their primary tasks and in particular their compliance with regulatory provisions, internal rules and client-specific instructions. Through management by objectives, supervisors place trust in their employees, afford them leeway for shaping their own approach to work, and identify the necessary personal development measures.

In collaboration with the supervisors, the management of each Group company bear responsibility for the actual deployment of their employees and for making the necessary resources available. In their staff function, local employees of the personnel department provide assistance through their relevant know-how as well as by performing specific administrative tasks. The line supervisor has decision-making authority in addressing concrete issues. 

From the Liechtenstein head office, the Group Human Resources unit offers its entire spectrum of services. This encompasses all operative HR activities, including the rendering of advice and support to supervisors and employees. In Liechtenstein, the operation of the central HR system as well as management of the Group-wide structural organisation is handled for the entire VP Bank Group. This internal specialised know-how is at the disposal of management for deciding on conceptual matters, and thereby flows into the further development of Group-wide human resources management.

At each branch and subsidiary, local management must ensure that the necessary HR administration is in place internally or provided by external partners. Apart from its local tasks, the HR unit at the Zurich location was responsible for professionally and ad­ministratively accompanying all of the international offices of the Group until the end of 2013. As of 2014, this task is in the hands of the central HR unit at the head office in Liechtenstein.

In 1998, the Employee Representative Body (ERB) was established at the Liechtenstein headquarters in response to the newly adopted Workers’ Participation Act. In its current composition, the five members were elected to a four-year term of office. The activities of the ERB are based on the internal workers’ participation ordinance, which was enacted by Executive Management. The latter must inform and include the ERB if and when the general terms of employment are to be changed or if a reduction of the workforce is envisaged. However, the decision-making authority for any given matter rests with Executive Management.

Since the introduction of SAP HCM in 2010, VP Bank Group has at its disposal a technological platform for the widest array of HR-related activities. This centralised system represents the common database for all of the Bank’s locations and, in line with the available funding, is continuously expanded in order to accomodate new potential uses and benefits. Today, HR employees and line supervisors can process the data and utilise the system via a specific user application, for each location or for the entire Group.

The available information constitutes the backbone of human resources management at VP Bank Group. It reflects the entire Group-wide structural organisation, with budgeted posts and the allocated persons, as well as detailed information on the employees, such as the qualification and authorisation of client advisors to conduct crossborder activities. This central database is not only necessary for the Bank’s HR processes; it also flows into other business processes. For example, on a quarterly basis, the future personnel costs are extrapolated for the current year and the year to come.

In keeping with the Bank’s strategy, there were shifts in the workforce as of 31 December 2013. Through the separation of the fiduciary companies, a total of 29 persons left our ranks (BVI, 23; Liechtenstein, 6). At the head office, staff was also reduced by 8 employees. In contrast, staff was added to the fund-related business units in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg (in total, 12 individuals). Through the successful integration of the private banking unit of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhart (International) SA in Luxembourg, the headcount increased by 30 persons.

On 31 December 2013, VP Bank Group employed 764 people, two fewer than in the previous year. Adjusted for part-time employees, this equates to 1.1 fewer full-time equivalents (FTEs) than reported at the end of 2012, namely 705.8 (see table). The proportion of part-time employees (152 individuals; prior year: 155) remained at 20 per cent.

The average years of service at VP Bank Group rose from 8.8 to 9.1 years at the end of 2013. For VP Bank Group, Vaduz, that figure increased from 10.4 to 10.9 years.

Constituting the largest proportion of the workforce are employees with Swiss citizenship (36 versus 35 per cent in the previous year). The proportion of Liechtenstein citizens fell once again by 1 percentage point to 29 per cent. The third-largest grouping with 11 per cent are our employees from Germany (previous year: 7 per cent), mainly due to the headcount expansion in Luxembourg (see chart).

A modest decrease was recorded in the number of client advisors, primarily as a result of the divestiture of the fiduciary business: today’s 151 (prior year: 154) client advisors represent 20 per cent of the Group’s total workforce. In Liechtenstein, the number of client advisors rose by 5 to a total of 78, and in Luxembourg by 7 to 27.

As has been recognised for years, work that is perceived to be meaningful and satisfying, as well as the work environment itself, are enormously important in making employees feel comfortable. Many factors can have a negative effect on the work environment: internal influences or external influences due to economic conditions, not to mention events in one’s personal or familial life.

VP Bank Group is fully aware that it must view its employees within the context of their personal situation in life and their differing needs. The members of the Bank’s HR departments are pleased to be at the disposal of all staff and supervisors in order to be of assistance in clarifying any personal issues that may arise. In addition to individual discussions with the affected persons, searching for possible solutions and accompanying those individuals in crisis situations, team analyses and coaching are also some of the tools applied in addressing the issue. Status assessments and career development counselling can also be offered. A broad spectrum of specialised know-how is available internally and, if need be, it can be supplemented by drawing on the skills of external partners.

Remuneration is of course also an essential element when it comes to the satisfaction of employees and their loyalty to the company. VP Bank Group subscribes to the principle of paying fair, competitive compensation. The fixed salary is reflective of the given function and the related requirements, while any variable remuneration components are based on the success of the company and individual per­formance of the employee. Details on the principles of remuneration are provided in the Compensation Report.

Coordinated interaction between several hundred people across a number of countries and continents is necessary in order for VP Bank Group to offer clients its defined range of services. The organisation chart shows the companies, units, departments and teams where this interplay takes place. Within the organisation, each employee performs a specific function associated with designated tasks, competencies and responsibilities. Individual job requirements can be systematically derived from this matrix: what qualifications must the employee have hold, and; what degree of professional experience is necessary for the function to be performed competently?

The systematics of the functions, with their respective tasks and requirements, represent a fundamental tool of corporate management and personnel administration. In addition to forming the basis for function-consistent remuneration, they serve as a benchmark for promotions or recruitment as well as a point of departure for employee development measures. A comparison of employees’ existing skills with the necessary requirements immediately reveals where there is need for development, individual as well as cumulative across entire business units.

Again in 2013, VP Bank Group invested significant sums in banking-specific continuing education, for instance in training seminars at the Liechtenstein and Swiss offices aimed at enhancing the quality of advice and improving conversational techniques. For targeted specialist education, employees throughout the Group have at their disposal a VP Bank Group e-Learning tool, which offers a wide array of courses. Of the expenditures for external education, roughly half went towards the furtherance of banking know-how and other specific professional skills, and around 10 per cent towards the improvement of selling and advising methods. At the Liechtenstein location, 23 people earned a diploma for completing a multi-semester, extra-occupational course, and an additional 38 individuals were still participating in a similar course at the end of 2013.

Taking advantage of opportunities to assume another function, learn new things and keep pace with today’s interesting challenges: wherever and whenever pos­sible, VP Bank Group offers its employees those opportunities. In 2013, 7 employees switched to another Group company. Moreover, at the head office alone, 20 persons took on a new role and 11 others were promoted to a higher-level role.

At the end of 2013, VP Bank Group was training 22 (previous year: 24) young people to become banking professionals and 4 others to become IT specialists. During the course of the year, 9 apprentices successfully completed their final exams, and 8 of them were offered a job at VP Bank Group. In addition, two young people who had already received their high school degree completed their commercial training. VP Bank Group has developed a support model for university students: they have the possibility during their studies to take a 50 per cent job at VP Bank Group. During the year under review, two employees completed their master’s studies parallel to their work.

Employee statistics of VP Bank Group