Basis

Corporate governance is an essential part of the LLB Group’s corporate policy. It ensures responsibilities, control and transparency. The fundamental basis for the Group’s corporate governance are the SIX Swiss Exchange’s Direct Corporate Governance (DCG), the Liechtenstein law concerning the control and supervision of public companies (ÖUSG), the Law on the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLBG) as well as their statutes and rules of procedure.

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 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). The General Meeting of Shareholders on 8 May 2015 approved several general amendments to the Statutes, which contribute to a substantial strengthening of shareholder rights, 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 new 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.

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 also provides minority shareholders with certainty in planning by defining how the Principality intends to use its majority equity stake in the medium and long-term.

The Government commits itself to the stock exchange listing of the LLB and a majority participation of at least 51 percent. 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. The Government observes corporate autonomy as well as the rights and obligations resulting from the stock exchange listing. At the same time, the Government as a shareholder 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 LLB’s Board of Directors. Further information can be found at www.llb.li/participation-strategy.

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, 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 following corporate governance report complies with the requirements of the Directive Corporate Governance, valid since 1 December 2014, of the SIX Swiss Exchange, as well as its updated commentary of 20 September 2007. If information required by the directive is disclosed in the Notes to the financial statement, a corresponding reference is shown.

The ordinance against excessive compensation by listed companies (OaEC) has been in force in Switzerland since 1 January 2014. It applies to Swiss public companies whose shares are listed on an exchange in Switzerland or abroad. Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG is accordingly not affected by the ordinance. In the Regulatory Board Communiqué no. 2 / 2014 of 1 September 2014 concerning the revision of the directive on information relating to corporate governance (RDCG), the Regulatory Board notes that all companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange AG should in principle have to disclose the same information on corporate governance. This is to avoid the situation that issuers who are required to make certain disclosures under the current Directive Corporate Governance (DCG) will no longer have to make them in the future because they are not subject to the scope of the OaEC. As a result, the DCG now contains, in some areas, special provisions for issuers subject to the OaEC and provisions for those that are not subject to the OaEC.