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ZURICH, July 15 (Reuters) - VP Bank said on Mondayit will buy HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt SA's private bank and thefund business related to it for an undisclosed price, a furthersign of industry consolidation as banking secrecy comes underfire.
Though small with overall assets of 2.5 billion Swiss francs($2.6 billion), the deal between Liechtenstein's VP andGermany-based HSBC Trinkaus, majority owned by HSBC Holdings Plc, is just the latest move by a smaller player to reducebusiness risks during an international crackdown on undeclaredfunds.
Last month regional Swiss bank St. Galler Kantonalbank said it will sell parts of its Hyposwiss Private Bankand integrate the rest due to risks.
VP's hometown rival LLB, Liechtenstein'ssecond-biggest bank, is cutting 23 percent of its staff andclosing its Swiss arm, it said in March.
The tiny European principality has been quicker thanSwitzerland to succumb to pressure on banking secrecy laws, theso-called "lift the kimono" among private bankers. However, itssmaller banks have struggled with the resulting drop in clientassets.
By contrast, Liechtenstein's biggest bank LGT, owned by theroyal family, said in March it had attracted 10.5 billion francsin net new assets last year. LGT has recovered faster than thecountry's smaller banks, LLB and VP, in part because it was oneof the first major banks to be forced to face an internationalclampdown on tax evasion since the financial crisis.
For VP, the HSBC Trinkaus deal is the first notable publicmove by Alfred Moeckli, who was in May named the bank's thirdchief executive in four years.
"With this acquisition, we are making targeted use of thecurrently attractive market opportunities," Moeckli said in astatement.
Roughly 20 employees will transfer to VP Bank in Luxembourgas part of the deal, expected to close by year-end.
