Page 14 - Maerki Baumann & Co. AG | Annual Report 2021

support the priorities for action of the Association of Swiss Asset and Wealth Management Banks, where the focus is on greater transparency, climate-related stress tests and specific reductions in company emissions. We will therefore place greater emphasis on sustain- ability in the area of private banking and in the indi- rect real estate business, too. Furthermore, we want to expand our investment universe by offering our cli- ents access to attractive private equity investments in the near future. In addition, we are planning to launch a crypto certificate so that clients can invest in this new asset class in a diversified way with even modest investment volumes. We are very confident that Maerki Baumann is ideally equipped to face the challenges to come. For a long time, achieving a certain critical mass was deemed to be a key success factor for a private bank. With the founding of InCore Bank and the associated outsourcing of standard processes to a transaction bank, we put the wheels in motion some 15 years ago for preserving our independence in our core business. Today it is increas- ingly apparent that a bank’s business model matters more than its size. The key factors in the digitalization of the banking business are proving to be agility and speed. Established, flexible institutions such as Maerki Baumann that exhibit a pronounced degree of stability and reliability have an advantage here. In keeping with our motto “Trust has a future”, we will continue to follow this path faithfully – in the interests of our clients. On behalf of the Executive Board Dr Stephan A. Zwahlen Chief Executive Officer 14 Maerki Baumann & Co. AG