The organisational structure of VP Bank Group

At the beginning of 2013, VP Bank Group expanded the Executive Board of the parent bank in Vaduz (Verwaltungs- und Privat-Bank Aktiengesellschaft) through the addition of Martin Engler, Head of Private Banking Liechtenstein, and Günther Kaufmann, Head of Intermediaries & Trans­action Banking. 

Consequently, as of 1 January 2013, the Executive Board of the parent bank comprised all three members of Group Executive Management of VP Bank Group, namely Chief Financial Officer Siegbert Näscher, Chief Operating Officer Juerg W. Sturzenegger and Head of Commercial Banking Rolf Jermann, as well as its new members Martin Engler and Günther Kaufmann.

As of 1 January 2013, the “Investment Services Center” and “Group Trading” units were combined to create the “Group Investment & Trading Center”.

Also at the beginning of the year, four new units were created at IFOS Internationale Fonds Service AG, the responsibility for each of which is assigned to a member of Executive Management. As a result, Executive Management at IFOS was expanded to include two new members. Reto Grässli and Ralf Konrad were appointed to join the existing two members, Alex Boss and Sothearith Kol. At the same time, a switch has been made in the chairmanship of Executive Management of IFOS: Sothearith Kol took over from Alex Boss as chair. The new organisation became operative on 1 January 2013 and was formally recognised as of 1 February 2013.

In 2013, VP Bank Group redoubled its focus on market and client needs by adding a new member to Group Executive Management. As of 1 July 2013, the client-oriented business segments “Banking Liechtenstein & Regional Market” and “Private Banking International” were merged into the new “Client Business” organisational unit. The Board of Directors of VP Bank Group named Christoph Mauchle to be the fourth member of Group Executive Management. He assumed responsibility for the “Client Business” division on 1 October 2013. Thus, as of that date, Group Exe­cutive Management comprises Alfred W. Moeckli (Chief Executive Officer), Christoph Mauchle (Head of Client Business), Juerg W. Sturzenegger (Chief Operating Officer) and Siegbert Näscher (Chief Financial Officer).

As part of a strategic reorientation, the Board of Directors decided to divest VP Bank Group’s own fiduciary companies. The IGT Intergestions Trust reg. subsidiary in Vaduz was tranched off in the autumn of 2013 within the framework of a management buyout.

During the course of the year, VP Bank Group also reorganised the structures of its umbrella holding entity, VP Bank and Trust Company (BVI) Limited in Tortola (British Virgin Islands), which for years has been a joint venture between VP Bank and Liechtenstein’s Allgemeines Treuunter­nehmen (ATU). In 2013, VP Bank Group fully took over VP Bank (BVI) Limited and ceded the remaining financial interests to ATU.

The structural organisation has been streamlined as of 1 January 2014, and going forward will comprise three business segments: “Chief Executive Officer”, “Client Business” and “Chief Financial Officer & Banking Services”. Also as of 1 January 2014, the function of the Executive Board at the head office in Vaduz has been accorded to the Group Executive Management in the form of a personnel union comprised of Chief Executive Officer Alfred W. Moeckli, Head of Client Business Christoph Mauchle, and Chief Financial Officer Siegbert Näscher.

New regulations across the entire banking industry and the goal of building an efficient, client- and marketing-oriented management structure were the reasons for establishing this leaner VP Bank Group executive team at the beginning of the year. As part of this reorien­tation, Juerg W. Sturzenegger decided to step down from his role as Chief Operating Officer of VP Bank Group as of 31 December 2013.

Martin Engler, Head of Private Banking Liechtenstein, Günther Kaufmann, Head of Intermediaries & Transaction Banking, and Rolf Jermann, Head of Commercial Banking, each of whom was a member of the Executive Board of the parent bank in Vaduz, stepped down from that body as of 1 January 2014 in order to concentrate fully on ensuring success in their fields of responsibility.