Total net income was SFr59.8 million . Last year the firm had made a loss of SFr80.3 million.

However, income from its commission business was down 18.6 per cent to SFr123.5 million, compared to last year's SFr151.8 million. The income from trading did even worse, falling 42.1 per cent to SFr17.6 million compared to last year’s SFr30.3 million.

New net money was also negative, down SFr1.13 billion in 2009, after already falling in the previous year by SFr1.26 billion.

Total client assets, however, rose by 3.6 per cent from SFr28.5 billion in 2008 to SFr 29.5 billion in 2009. If adding the firm’s custody assets, which rose by 86.6 per cent to SFr12.3 billion, total client assets at the end of 2009 were SFr41.8 billion.

The bank was also able to increase its Tier 1 ratio from 13.6 per cent in 2008 to 17.1 per cent in 2009.

With regard to offering financial services from Liechtenstein, the bank said that the government’s policy of cooperation with clear principles on double taxation has created more legal certainty for the Liechtenstein financial centre. Liechtenstein is no longer on the OECD’s “grey list” of states deemed uncooperative in tax matters.

VP Bank’s core business is international private banking, the cultivation of which requires outstanding service, ongoing dialogue with clients, and the protection of personal privacy. The bank focuses mainly on Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, Asia and Eastern Europe.