Basis

Our responsibly minded management, which is focused on long-term added value, is characterised by efficient cooperation between the Group Executive Board and the Board of Directors, by transparent accounting and reporting as well as by good shareholder relations.

The principles and directives defining corporate governance are laid down in two laws: “the law concerning the control and supervision of public companies” (ÖUSG) of 19 November 2009 and the Law on the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLBG) of 21 October 1992. In addition, they are laid down in the statutes and rules of procedure of the LLB. These documents are based on the directives and recommendations of the “Swiss Code of Best Practice for Corporate Governance” issued by the Swiss Business Federation (economiesuisse).

On 22 November 2011, the Liechtenstein Government as the representative of the principal shareholder, the Principality of Liechtenstein, adopted – with reference to the ÖUSG Law – a so-called participation strategy for Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG. This strategy defines how the Principality intends to deal with its majority shareholding in the medium and long term and therefore also provides minority shareholders with certainty in planning.

The Government commits itself to the stock exchange listing of the LLB and a majority participation of at least 51 per cent. The Government represents the shareholder interest of the Principality at the General Meeting of Shareholders pursuant to the rights afforded to it by stock corporation law. It observes corporate autonomy as well as the rights and obligations resulting from the stock exchange listing. At the same time, as a shareholder it also respects the decision-making authority of the Board of Directors concerning corporate strategy and corporate policy. In accordance with Art. 16 of the ÖUSG Law, the participation strategy was adopted after consultation with the LLB’s Board of Directors. Further information can be found at www.llb.li/participation-strategy.

The General Meeting of Shareholders on 8 May 2015 resolved to further, substantially strengthen shareholder rights by approving, in particular, the expansion of the rights of shareholders to include items on the agenda and make proposals, and they introduced the option of postal voting and electronic voting as well as electronic delegation of proxies. Following the revision of the Statutes, and on account of the StepUp2020 strategy, in November 2015 the Board of Directors undertook a revision of the rules of procedure, which came into force on 1 January 2016.

The General Meeting of Shareholders of 12 May 2017 approved the conversion of the previous bearer shares into registered shares. This step enabled LLB to conform to the international trend towards more transparency regarding the shareholder structure. The share exchange took place on 18 May 2017.

The Board of Directors of the LLB Group has held the “Best Board Practice” label of the Swiss Association for Quality and Management Systems (SQS) and the Liechtenstein Association for Quality Assurance Certificates (LQS) since December 2010. The business activities and organisation of the Board of Directors exhibit a high level of quality. In December 2016, within the scope of their reassessment, both SQS and LQS reconfirmed the evaluation of the good quality and transparency of the bank’s corporate governance. The Board of Directors was once again awarded the “Best Board Practice” label for a further three years. The continuity reassessments in 2017 and 2018 reconfirmed yet again that activities and organisation of the LLB Board of Directors continue to exhibit a constantly high level of quality and consistently fulfil the Best Board Practice criteria.

The following corporate governance report complies with the requirements of the Corporate Governance Directive (RLCG) of the SIX Swiss Exchange Regulation, status 1 May 2018, as well as the fully revised guidelines of the Six Exchange Regulation regarding the RLCG of 10 April 2017. If information required by the RLCG is disclosed in the Notes to the financial statement, a corresponding reference is shown.