Switzerland’s Lombard Odier Group has released its financial results for the first time in its 218-year history.

Switzerland’s Lombard Odier Group has released its financial results for the first time in its 218-year history, underlining the huge changes the Alpine state’s traditionally secretive banking industry has undergone in recent years.

Lombard Odier said in a financial statement for the first six months of 2014 that consolidated net profit was SFr62.5 million ($68.4 million) for the group, while assets under management were SFr156 billion.

The group is organised around three business lines, with total client assets at the end of June 2014 of SFr211.0 billion. The private clients business had total client assets of SFr114.7 billion, while asset management clients invested SFr47.8 billion. Technology and banking services clients had SFr48.5 billion of assets.

Lombard Odier said that its decision to accelerate the expansion of its private client business in Europe, Asia and Switzerland was showing steady progress and positioned the firm for the future.

Consolidated income in the first six months was SFr527.1 million and the operational cost base was SFr429.7 million.

The firm’s operating cost-income ratio was 80 per cent, which it said reflected long-term investments in the private client businesses in Europe, Asia and Switzerland; asset management expertise for institutional clients; and further developments into the technology platform that it provides to third parties.

Lombard Odier said that for the end of June 2014, it had a common equity tier 1 ratio of 23.8 per cent, well above the Swiss regulator’s 12 per cent target.

The liquidity coverage ratio was 653 per cent, compared to the 100 per cent liquidity coverage ratio stipulated by the Basel III regulations.

“These results are in line with our expectations and reflect both the investments we make towards our strategic objectives as well as the conservative use of our balance sheet,” said Patrick Odier, senior managing partner.

“Our group is increasingly diversified, more international and more balanced between private and asset management clients and we are expanding our partnerships with financial services providers. Our solid net profit allows us to continue investing in all three businesses,” he added.

The figures are part of a general move towards greater transparency by Swiss banks and follows the release by the Geneva-based Pictet Group of its financial results earlier this week.

Pictet said in a half-yearly statement up to 30 June that profit was SFr203 million, while operating income was SFr975 million. Assets under management were SFr404 billion, an increase of SFr13 billion from the end of last year. At its wealth management arm, assets under management were SFr150 billion.

Lombard Odier became a limited liability company in January as a result of a restructure, with management of the group falling under a corporate partnership, obligating it to disclose its finances. Under the new model, the bank’s eight partners are not liable for losses, which are now shifted to the corporate entity.

The moves highlight how the traditional Swiss model of private bank partners facing unlimited liability – seen as a cause for the great conservatism of such banks – is seen as unworkable at a time when such firms are expanding overseas and increasing staff and client assets.

As Swiss banks of all types have also come under global pressures over bank secrecy laws, there have been concerns about whether partners face litigation and associated risks from far-flung business units. For example, Wegelin, the country’s oldest private bank, has seen its name vanish in the wake of a tax evasion legal case in the US.