An occasion to confirm our bank’s and its employee’s principles and culture to meet the needs of our customers with quality products and services as well as to add value to our shareholders.

Mercantil Bank (Schweiz) AG remains very well capitalized at the end of 2018 and substantially exceeds the minimum regulatory requirements with a strong Basel III leverage ratio of 18.8% and a risk-based capital ratio at 42.2 %.

Positive results from trading activities due to volatile stock markets and the initiated distribution of Structured Products contributed to a positive net profit of CHF 1.3 million, an increase of 12% compared to last year.

In Net New Money, we achieved a healthy growth of CHF 37.1 million despite the challenging environment.

In cooperation with various providers, we started at the beginning of the year 2018 the development of tailor-made structured products which respond to selective and dedicated client needs. In an uncertain market environment, structured products may well be an attractive alternative to invest in all asset classes, including fragmented or difficult-to-access markets, with customized protection.

In late 2018 we upgraded our e-banking platform to provide our clients a faster, easier, and secure way to access our online services with two-factor authentication “Made in Switzerland”.

In 2019 our priority remains to grow our client base and assets under management, a goal we aim to achieve by developing new distribution channels, intensify customer relationships in the Latin American region and sharpen our profile with a redesign of our website.

Due to the continuously changing regulatory framework and our efforts to further improve efficiency and streamline our processes, we will implement new technologies in 2019. These investments will significantly strengthen the risk and compliance platform, KYC quality assurance processes and screening capabilities.

Thanks to our capital strength, conservative risk management, efficiency, and loyalty of our staff, we are confident that we are well prepared for the forthcoming challenges and opportunities in the coming years.