Vaduz, 25. April 2014 - All proposals made by the Board of Directors were approved at the 51st ordinary annual general meeting of VP Bank in Vaduz. Dr Beat Graf and Michael Riesen were elected for the first time as members of the Board of Directors. The proposals to change the Bank's name to "VP Bank AG" and to distribute a considerably higher dividend were approved.

The 577 shareholders present at the 51st ordinary annual general meeting of VP Bank on Friday, 25 April 2014, approved all the proposals made by the Board of Directors: the 2013 annual reports and annual results, the payment of a dividend of CHF 3.50 per bearer share and CHF 0.35 per registered share, as well as the discharge of the Board of Directors and the auditors. Ernst & Young Ltd was re-elected for a further one-year term as Group and statutory auditors.


Re-elections and new elections to the Board of Directors
Professor Teodoro D. Cocca and Dr Daniel H. Sigg, whose terms of office had expired, were re-elected for an additional three years. Walo Frischknecht announced that he did not intend to seek re-election. Fredy Vogt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VP Bank, thanked Walo Frischknecht for his valuable contribution to the work of the Board, as well as for his commitment and his pivotal role as Chairman of the Audit & Risk Management Committee of VP Bank. Dr Beat Graf and Michael Riesen were elected as new members of the Board of Directors for a three-year term of office. Dr Beat Graf has worked for Allgemeines Treuunternehmen (ATU) in Vaduz since 2003 and has been a member of its Executive Board since 2007. Prior to that he was a founding partner and Managing Director of LM Legal Management AG, St. Gallen, and Deputy Head of Legal Services for Eastern Switzerland at the Union Bank of Switzerland/UBS, St. Gallen. Dr Beat Graf graduated with a doctorate in law from the University of Fribourg. Michael Riesen has been a self-employed business consultant since 2014. Before starting out on his own, he held various positions at Ernst & Young Ltd., Zurich, including, among others, as Managing Partner of Financial Services, member of the Executive Board as well as Lead Auditor of national and international financial institutions under licence from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA. Michael Riesen is a certified accountant, a Swiss certified fiduciary and a certified business economist (HKG).

Higher dividends - adjusted dividend policy
The annual general meeting approved the distribution of a dividend of CHF 3.50 per bearer share and CHF 0.35 per registered share. Dividends will be paid out on 5 May 2014. The increase in dividends is based on the changes to the Bank's dividend policy made by the Board of Directors. In the future, 40 to 60 per cent of the consolidated net income generated by the Group will be distributed to the shareholders as long as the medium-term tier 1 target ratio of 16 per cent is exceeded. This approach is intended to provide constant growth in dividends.

Change of name
The annual general meeting approved the proposal to change the current name from "Verwaltungs- und Privat-Bank Aktiengesellschaft" to "VP Bank AG" (VP Bank SA, VP Bank Ltd). This clear and succinct name will be more easily understood and match our brand name "VP Bank".

All lights are now green
2013 was a year in which VP Bank made significant changes to its course. With important alterations in its staff and organisation, the Bank is now able to better align itself to satisfy changes in market conditions and client needs. These include in particular the newly created Client Business unit, parting with the Bank's own fiduciary companies and the slimming down of the Executive Board at the Bank's head office in Vaduz (since 1 January 2014 the Executive Board has had the same members as and has assumed the functions of the Group Executive Management). Fredy Vogt, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: "VP Bank Group is well equipped to meet future challenges thanks to its strategic focussing on realignment and the resultant simplification of its management structure." Underlining all these issues and measures is the primary strategic goal of VP Bank to grow profitably and sustainably as a group through its activities in target markets and segments, while maintaining its independence. A stable shareholder base and plenteous core capital provide the foundation for this, and the high equity capital also allows the Bank to invest in growth through targeted acquisitions. "We will take advantage of market opportunities that arise if they are strategically suitable and fit VP Bank Group's corporate culture," said Fredy Vogt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VP Bank.
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