Here’s how European private bank LLB is looking to grow in the GCC

One of the oldest financial institutions in Europe, Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) has been in business for almost 160 years. Present in the UAE since 2005, LLB’s business focus lies within maintaining long-term partnerships in the Middle East by offering locally required products. Its investment counsellors are part of the asset management team at the central LLB Group, the largest independent investment centre in Liechtenstein. An expert team there is dedicated to the Middle Eastern market and provides research insights from European and US markets to the region.

Ludovic Pernot, head of Private Banking Middle East at LLB, reveals details about regional operations and plans ahead.

How has this year been for LLB? How have you coped with the crisis?

As, I guess, has been the case for our colleagues from other institutions, this year has been very challenging. We’ve had to adapt to a new reality, making sure we protect our staff members’ health, safeguard our clients’ interests, and keep our services operational from all perspectives despite difficult or, at least, unusual working conditions. However, I believe that as a team, through constant communication, we have overcome the difficulties and challenges. All-in-all, we are now stronger than where we were.

What kind of support did you offer to you customers to cope with the pandemic?

The most important thing for us was to stand by our clients during the market turmoil and make sure to be there alongside them all along – all the while creating an environment that will allow us to serve them without having to meet them, hence reducing risks of Covid-19 contamination.

The second consideration was to ensure that our clients do not suffer from this extraordinary situation and that our services remained, as before, still available for them. We wanted to make sure our staff members were still looking after them and this is what we achieved. We continuously remained in touch with our clients, and I like to believe, we have helped them navigate through rough waters.

Regionally, you moved into a new office in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) last year – how has that move supported your growth?

Firstly, moving to DIFC allowed us to acquire a category 4 licence. This means that the scope of our licence became broader and consequently we could offer our clients a larger universe of services, which wasn’t the case when we were operating as a representative office.

Secondly, operating now in a highly regulated environment allows us to offer the best level of regulatory protection to clients, which has been attractive for prospective business. Many of our clients are very familiar with DIFC and feel very secure being served out of this environment.

Thirdly, we were able to attract new relationship managers, who in turn brought their clients.

What are your future plans for the region?

We are very committed to this region and are constantly innovating and expanding our offering for private banking clients here. We consider the region as one that has superior growth perspectives. So, we intend to keep growing, at a reasonable pace. We first aim to consolidate our position in the UAE market and then intend to explore prospects in other regional markets where we are currently not active. We will keep developing an offering in line with GCC clients’ aspirations. This growth will be mostly organic.

For more information about LLB, click here: www.llb.li/me

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