Funds powerhouse

Thanks to the acquisitions it has made, the LLB Group now operates investment fund management companies in its three home markets of Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria. It manages an investment fund volume of over CHF 30 billion. Consequently, LLB has significantly consolidated its position in this field of business and now can be regarded as a potent fund powerhouse in the FL-A-CH region (Liechtenstein / Austria / Switzerland). It focuses on providing private label fund solutions, known also in Austria as white label funds or Master-KAG solutions. These are very individual solutions, ideally suited for efficient asset management and as structuring alternatives for large volumes of assets. They are characterised, in particular, by the fact that they delegate fund management to an external third party, or they engage such specialists as investment advisers. Irrespective of whether a fund is set up for a restricted group of investors or is publicly distributed, the investor protection is the same.

In Liechtenstein, LLB Fund Services AG is one of the three largest private label vendors. Over the last two decades, it has made a name for itself – just like the Austrian LLB Invest KAG – as a specialist in this business area. All LLB’s fund management companies provide a comprehensive range of services in line with the “all in one shop” concept. We plan and set up tailor-made funds, both in-house as well as for independent asset managers, family offices and other fund promoters. We also manage and structure them, as well as providing state-of-the-art risk management. At our business locations in Vaduz and Zurich, we supplement these services by taking over the representative function of foreign funds.

Fund business in Liechtenstein and Switzerland

The Fund Services business area operates as the LLB Group’s fund competence centre in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and is an important earnings pillar with significant growth potential. In the year under report, the business area achieved a net new money inflow with private label funds of CHF 296 million. Based on an holistic and needs-oriented advisory approach, its spectrum of services ranges from the setting up of a fund, to the initial issuance of units, all the way to the provision of services throughout the life cycle of a fund. The strategic takeover of LB(Swiss) Investment AG in April 2018 provided the LLB Group with access to the Swiss investment funds market and therefore opened up new growth perspectives.

Fund business in Austria

LLB Österreich currently manages CHF 14.8 billion of assets in funds business. Through its subsidiary, LLB Invest KAG, Liechtensteinische Landesbank (Österreich) AG offers customised complete solutions in the areas of public funds, funds for large-scale investors, special funds and multi-manager funds. The spectrum of products ranges from money market tracking funds, to bond and equity funds, to real estate share funds and extends to alternative investment funds and asset allocation funds. A fund solution can be chosen for every investment mentality and for almost every requirement.

LLB Immo KAG, a subsidiary, offers open real estate funds with individual solutions. These include, for example, acquisition and administration of properties, facility and cash management, as well as consolidated reporting. All these solutions are defined in collaboration with our clients and offered from one source. LLB Immo KAG can call on extensive experience acquired over many years in the real estate market. Real estate special funds are aimed mainly at professional investors, which include pension funds, insurance companies and foundations that want to benefit from the long-term advantages of indirect real estate investments.

LLB as a custodian bank for funds

LLB extended its position as the leading custodian bank in Liechtenstein, serving 252 funds by the end of 2018. As a pioneer in this business and the first bank to offer this service in Liechtenstein, it has acknowledged experience and expertise in the management and administration of complex fund mandates having various strategies and asset classes. LLB Österreich has a similar pedigree, offering this service for 308 funds at the end of 2018.

EU passport for UCITS and alternative investment funds

Thanks to its membership of the EEA, Liechtenstein is the only country having unlimited access to two economic areas, i.e. Switzerland and the European Union. In accordance with the Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS) directive based on European law and the law concerning the Managers of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFM), Liechtenstein funds can be marketed and freely distributed in the 28 EU states, as well as the EEA / EFTA states (see chapter “Regulatory framework and developments”).