Berner Kantonalbank
| Berner Kantonalbank Banque Cantonale Bernoise |
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|---|---|
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| Country |
 Switzerland
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| Seat | Bern |
| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | CH0009691608 |
| IID | 790 |
| BIC | KBBECH22XXX |
| founding | 1834 |
| Website | www.bekb.ch |
| Business data 2018 | |
| Total assets | 30.6 billion CHF |
| Employee | 1,206 |
| management | |
| Corporate management |
Armin Brun |
The Berner Kantonalbank AG ( French Banque Cantonale Bernoise ; brand name: BEKB | ), headquartered in Bern , the cantonal bank of the Swiss canton of Bern . With total assets (as of December 31, 2018) of CHF 30.6 billion and around 1206 employees (1000 full-time positions), BEKB is one of the largest cantonal banks in Switzerland. It was founded in 1834 as one of the first Swiss cantonal banks. BEKB has been a public limited company under private law since 1998 . The majority shareholder is the Canton of Bern ; According to the cantonal constitution, he operates a cantonal bank and ensures the stability of the shareholder base with his 51.5 percent of the shares.
history
The «Kantonalbank von Bern» was founded in 1834 as one of the first cantonal banks . Three years earlier, the Bernese voters adopted the liberal state constitution. The new constitutional freedoms also included freedom of trade and commerce . This allowed free entrepreneurship to develop - although this was dependent on a bank that provided the funds for the financing of the companies. The newly founded Kantonalbank provided services for broad sections of the population and contributed to the development of the regional economy. Gradually, it expanded its range of services and products.
In 1858 the Kantonalbank of Bern opened its first three branches in St. Imier, Burgdorf and Biel. A hundred years later, in 1958, the balance sheet total exceeded the billion mark for the first time.
In 1991 the «Kantonalbank von Bern» and the «Mortgage Bank of the Canton Bern» merge to form the Berner Kantonalbank. The new institute should “firstly be a modern universal bank, secondly fulfill economic and social tasks in the interests of the public and the state and thirdly prove itself in the market by being competitive and flexibly adapting to new developments”.
After the founding of the Canton of Jura, four branches of the newly founded Jurassic Cantonal Bank were transferred in 1979.
Because of the real estate crisis, the Berner Kantonalbank had to realign its business and credit policy at the beginning of the 1990s. In advance, it had granted loans, especially in the construction sector, which, according to the new credit policy, should not have been granted to the same extent or not at all. In 1993 the healthy bank was separated from the newly founded Dezennium-Finanz AG (DFAG). Assets who did not comply with the new business and credit policy of the Berner Kantonalbank were transferred to DFAG. The canton of Bern supported the restructuring of its bank in the following years with a total of 1.45 billion francs.
The bank has been using the short name BEKB | since 1996 BCBE and appears with today's logo. Two years later, BEKB was the first cantonal bank to be converted into a private stock corporation. The new “Law on the Stock Corporation Berner Kantonalbank” led to a separation of responsibility between owner and bank management. The majority of shares in the canton of Bern was gradually reduced to 51.5 percent in the following years. Since then, BEKB has paid the canton around 1.8 billion francs in levies in the form of dividends and taxes.
Five years after the dissolution of the Solothurner Kantonalbank, BEKB opened the first non-cantonal location in Solothurn in 1999. In the same year, it was the first cantonal bank organized under private law to list its registered shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich.
Ownership
51.5 percent of BEKB is owned by the canton of Bern. 48.5 percent of the shares belong to private shareholders. With around 54,000 shareholders, BEKB is one of the ten Swiss companies with the largest number of shareholders.
Business activity
BEKB is a universal bank with a focus on standardized basic banking services, real estate finance , corporate finance and private banking . The bank focuses its business activities on two customer segments, namely business with private and corporate customers, especially small and medium-sized companies , and asset advice for private and institutional customers.
The bank has 60 branches in the cantons of Bern and Solothurn.
BEKB orients its low-risk strategy towards long-term success and sustainable value creation. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that it aligns its goals to ten years and its long-term return target is between 2 and 4 percent above a risk-free investment.
State guarantee
Until the end of 2005, the BEKB, like all Swiss cantonal banks originally, had an unlimited state guarantee from the Canton of Bern. In the canton of Bern, this came under political pressure and was therefore gradually and finally completely abolished in early 2006. In a first step, it was reduced to savings of up to CHF 100,000 (per customer) and bonds. The state guarantee was definitively canceled at the end of 2012. For bonds issued before this date, the state guarantee will remain in place until it matures. The state guarantee by the Canton of Bern is independent of the deposit insurance of Swiss banks and securities dealers. The BEKB is affiliated with the Swiss deposit insurance scheme, which protects deposits with a total value of up to CHF 100,000 per depositor.
Key figures
Key figures of the bank at the end of 2018:
- Annual profit (in CHF million): 140.8
- Balance sheet total (in billion CHF): 30.6
- Assets under management (custody assets) (in CHF billion): 17.5
- Loans to customers (in billion CHF): 23.6
- Profit distribution to the canton and municipalities (in CHF million): 57.0
- Headcount (adjusted for part-time): 1,000
- Offices: 60 branches
- Basel III total capital ratio: 18.6%
- Rating of the agency Moody's: Aa1
Web links
- Website of the Berner Kantonalbank
- "175 Years of Berner Kantonalbank AG" (PDF; 4.1 MB), publication by the Berner Kantonalbank on its 175th anniversary.
- Government sticks to dismantling the state guarantee , Berner Zeitung Online, January 6, 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry in the bank master of Swiss Interbank Clearing
- ↑ a b Annual Report 2018 , accessed July 5, 2019
- ↑ More on this at http://www.einlagensicherung.ch/
Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks
Aargauische Kantonalbank (AKB) | Appenzell-Ausserrhodische Kantonalbank (former) | Appenzeller Kantonalbank (APPKB) | Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino (BancaStato) | Banque Cantonale de Genève (BCGE) | Banque Cantonale du Jura (BCJ) | Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise (BCN) | Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) | Basler Kantonalbank (BKB) | Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank (BLKB) | Berner Kantonalbank (BEKB) | Freiburger Kantonalbank (FKB / BCF) | Glarner Kantonalbank (GLKB) | Graubündner Kantonalbank (GKB) | Lucerne Cantonal Bank (LUKB) | Nidwaldner Kantonalbank (NKB) | Obwaldner Kantonalbank (OKB) | Schaffhauser Kantonalbank (SHKB) | Schwyzer Kantonalbank (SZKB) | St.Galler Kantonalbank (SGKB) | Solothurner Kantonalbank (former) | Thurgauer Kantonalbank (TKB) | Urner Kantonalbank (UKB) | Walliser Kantonalbank (BCVS) | Zuger Kantonalbank (ZugerKB) | Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB)