Page 11 - Maerki Baumann & Co. AG | Annual Report 2021

Report from the Executive Board Eyes on the future 2021 was another year dominated by the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which proved to be a chal- lenge for both our society and our economy in many respects. But if we restrict our gaze to the global econ- omy and financial markets, it was a surprisingly good year, with many equity markets recording gains of more than 20% – well above their historical averages. Much of this was driven by the expansionary monetary policy of the world’s key central banks, led by the Fed in the US. Although the negative interest rate environment contin- ued to pose a significant challenge, our industry bene- fited from higher assets under management as well as persistently strong securities trading turnover. For 2022 we are expecting further growth in the global economy, but also heightened uncertainty regarding economic and geopolitical developments – a situation we believe we are well equipped to handle with our investment policy orientation and “defensive growth” approach. Maerki Baumann recorded a very pleasing busi- ness development in 2021 with substantial growth: our client assets under management broke through the symbolic threshold of CHF 10 billion for the first time, while net profit doubled compared to the previ- ous year. What paved the way for this result was the targeted development of our private bank over many years. We have always been determined to combine the proven with the new. The coronavirus pandemic in particular put the robustness of our business model to the test: our hybrid client servicing approach involves dedicated, client-focused work on the part of our staff on one hand, but also modern digital applications such as our e-banking solution and mobile banking app on the other. The constancy of our shareholder base and our long- term horizon provide us with considerable independ- ence as well as great stability in our business activity. Together with the remarkable motivation of our employ- ees, this provides us with the ideal platform from which to deliver our services wholly in the interests of our cli- ents. A very special form of recognition in the reporting 11 Maerki Baumann & Co. AG