Van Lanschot today released its 2016 annual figures. Karl Guha, Chairman, said: “We are grateful for the loyalty, trust and confidence that our clients place in us. 2016 was a good year for Van Lanschot despite low interest rates, major volatility and global political and social uncertainty. Bolstered by improving economic conditions, the quality of our loan portfolio was up, sparking a significant release from loan loss provisions. This, combined with our solid operational result, boosted our underlying net result to €81.3 million, enabling us to propose a significantly higher dividend of €1.20 per share. What is more, our financial foundations are rock-solid. We therefore reiterate our commitment to return at least €250 million to our shareholders by 2020, based on our current plans and currently known laws and regulations.
“We are well on track in implementing Strategy 2020 as presented in April 2016. The acquisition of Staalbankiers’ private banking activities bolsters our market position in the Netherlands by adding a large group of new clients and commercial talent – a fine example of a bolt-on acquisition as part of our growth-driven strategy. Evi van Lanschot has grown into an independent activity that is free to grow in its own way, and by the end of the year it had bagged the Gold Bull (Gouden Stier) for best online asset manager. Kempen Capital Management landed several high-profile mandates and made progress in expanding its market reach in fiduciary and institutional asset management. Merchant Banking was particularly successful in the second half in its capacity as adviser to a number of major European transactions in its own niche markets. Key developments for the company as a whole were our strategic update, the secondary market offering of the Delta Lloyd stake and the integration of Van Lanschot and Kempen staff functions.
“When releasing our strategic update we announced our aim to invest in developing our omnichannel private banking model. Today, we are delighted to launch an innovative investment advice app, which will give our clients easy access to their own portfolios and their dedicated investment adviser. And today, we are announcing another key step by teaming up with Fidor, an innovative German fintech player, to outsource our payments activities – which we expect to result in state-of-the-art online and mobile payments for our clients next year.
“Our solid strategic progress also sees us well on course to achieving our 2020 financial targets. We have realised a full-2016 return on equity*** of 7.3%, a clear continuation of our upward trend. We are closely watching the development of our efficiency ratio, which came in at 80.3%. Our CET I ratio, finally, is comfortably ahead of our target range of 15-17%, at 19.0%.”
* The 2016 underlying net result comprises the net result excluding the one-off charge of €8 million for the derivatives recovery framework and costs incurred for the Strategy 2020 investment programme. In 2015 it excluded a one-off charge in connection with the sale of non-performing real estate loans.
** Common Equity Tier I ratio phase-in, including retained earnings.
*** Return on average Common Equity Tier I based on underlying net result.
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