Meeting room in the bank instead of the festival tent, four people present instead of almost 500 good-humoured shareholders, and water instead of a rich dinner in the festively decorated hall. That was the annual general meeting of the Saanen Bank, which was only held in the presence of the independent voting representative due to the corona pandemic.

Notary Niklaus Würsten represented 13,177 votes (55%) of 885 shareholders (47%). Also present were the chairman of the board of directors Victor Steimle, head of marketing Corinna Müller and CEO Jürg von Allmen. The responsible auditor of the regulatory audit firm PWC, the other members of the board of directors and the management as well as Louis Lanz, to be elected member of the board of directors, were participating by telephone.

Dividend increase
"Even if current events have pushed the figures into the background somewhat, shareholders have already been able to take note of a very pleasing business result in the 2019 annual report," states the press release. The Saanen Bank was able to grow in almost all areas in 2019. The annual profit rose by 3.9 percent to CHF 2.6m.

The board of directors has therefore proposed to increase the dividend by CHF 3 to CHF 32. At the end of March, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) warned the banks to pursue a cautious dividend policy in view of the corona crisis. The Saanen Bank has always followed precisely this path, which is why the proposal for the dividend payment was maintained. Even with the dividend increase, the Saanen Bank still has a modest profit distribution and the major part of the annual profit will continue to be paid into the bank's reserves, said Steimle. Additionally, the bank has a very solid equity capital and thus cannot be compared with other financial institutions, in particular those listed on the stock exchange. "The dividend yield of the Saanen Bank share is a good 1 percent, which is still modest by industry standards, but in view of the current interest rate situation it still represents an interesting investment opportunity," he continued.

Louis Lanz for Peter Weissen
All agenda items were approved and re-elected board members include Marianne Kropf, Michael Teuscher and Victor Steimle for a further four years. In place of Peter Weissen, who had been a member of the board of directors for 16 years, the shareholders elected Louis Lanz from Schönried.

Service anniversaries and retirement of Simon Graa
Jürg von Allmen congratulated on four service anniversaries: Ursula Baumer (30 years), Madeleine Zahler (20 years), Daniel Perreten and Andrey Chernov (5 years each). Simon Graa will be retiring at the end of the month after 44 years at the Saanen Bank, including 10 years in the management.

Based on AvS/Anita Moser