VP Bank’s fund business

The fund business is of central importance to VP Bank. Alongside the private banking and brokerage activi­ties, it significantly enhances the Bank’s core compe­tencies.

VP Bank Group’s fund business includes the activity with third-party funds as well as in-house funds, all under the single “VP Fund Solutions” roof. With VP Fund Solutions, VP Bank Group has an international funds competency centre offering a one-stop shop for all of the services making up the fund business. 

VP Fund Solutions is an innovative and long-term fund services provider with outstanding expertise and longstanding experience. The competency centre comprises VP Fund Solutions (Liechtenstein) AG and VP Fund Solutions (Luxembourg) SA. 

VP Fund Solutions (Luxembourg) SA was founded in 1998 as a subsidiary of VP Bank (Luxembourg) SA, while VP Fund Solutions (Liechtenstein) AG has been a subsidiary of VP Bank AG in Liechtenstein since 1999. Both companies appear as fund competency centres under the single roof of “VP Fund Solutions”. 

The sites in Luxembourg and Liechtenstein work closely together across borders. This collaboration makes it possible to combine the specialised expertise and technical infrastructure and work more efficiently in order to satisfy international customer demands and regulatory requirements optimally. For example, cross-border responsibilities were set such that VP Fund Solutions (Liechtenstein) AG became the IT network node for the business unit. VP Fund Solutions can thus offer its clients identical, state-of-the-art services with secure processes and the same quality standards. Clients simply decide in which domicile they wish to place the investment funds. 

With more than 15 years’ experience, VP Fund Solutions offers close, cross-border collaboration with highly regarded local and international advisory institutions. By working with VP Bank as a custody bank and paying agent, VP Fund Solutions uses the VP Bank Group’s comprehensive, international know-how and cost-optimised custody network to process fund managers’ investment decisions.

In the first half of 2015, the “VP Bank Best Manager Aktien Natural Resources” fund received five stars from the Morningstar agency, the highest possible rating. This product ranks among the top 10% in the natural resources investment universe and in the first quartile of its peer group.

The umbrella fund gives the investor access to a diversified investment theme strategy that goes beyond the simple energy and mining sector. The portfolio also covers themes such as water and agri-business as well as alternative energies and clean tech. Over the long term the fund thereby benefits from secular trends such as ongoing population growth, rising resource consumption and related impacts. 

The excellent Morningstar rating confirms the exceptional manager and product selection skills that VP Fund Solutions makes available to its clients not only through the VP Bank Best Manager fund categories but also through its publications.

By participating in various fund industry trade shows in Europe, VP Fund Solutions presented its services to fund industry professionals for the first time in 2015. The “VP Fund Solutions” brand was rolled out and the range of services was demonstrated. Given the success of this approach, VP Fund Solutions will participate in additional fund industry events in 2016 and pursue its efforts in various fund industry associ­ations and working groups. 

The current market environment has sparked a boom in the fund business. Funds are considered a promising investment not just by pension funds and insurance companies but also, to a growing extent, by private savers. In 2015 VP Fund Solutions therefore made considerable investments in infrastructure, IT and human resources in order to keep pace with this trend and be able to offer fund customers state-of-the-art services. VP Fund Solutions will continue to develop and expand its offerings in the private equity and real estate areas in particular. 

With the Liechtenstein fund centre providing a stable financial market with attractive conditions, and with the Luxembourg fund centre ranked number one in Europe and number two worldwide, VP Fund Solutions can deploy its core competencies in the professional environment. 

Each client is given a personal contact person who looks after the day-to-day business, foreign distribution authori­sations, forex hedging of an investment class, the launch of a new fund or adjustments to the investment strategy. VP Fund Solutions is a member of fund industry trade asso­ciations. Stability and security are the cornerstone of the trust that investors – private and institutional clients as well as qualified investors – place in VP Bank’s funds competency centre.