Investment Officer Belgium, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication, greeted the 3,000th registered reader on its platform last month. This means that a substantial part of the target audience of investment professionals, asset managers, private bankers and insurance agents in Belgium is now being reached.
Investment Officer launched in Belgium in 2018, with both a Dutch- and French-language daily edition. In doing so, the editors of the platform set out to bring “up-to-date, relevant and unique” content to Belgian professionals on a daily basis.
The concept is based on Fondsnieuws.nl, the independent B2B platform for investment professionals in the Netherlands, which is now the largest platform in its target group and thus occupies a unique market position. Since its launch in Belgium under the name Investment Officer, the platform has experienced constant growth and is even considered in the market as the leading journalistic platform for Belgian investment professionals.
Diverse target audience
The target audience, two-thirds buy-side and one-third sell-side, is very diverse. It ranges from investment specialists at major Belgian banks to private bankers, insurers, asset allocators and fund selectors to independent bank and insurance brokers.
The daily management of Investment Officer Belgium is in the hands of Jurgen Vluijmans. Behind the scenes, there is a strong exchange of ideas and stories with colleagues in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where the platform was also launched under the Investment Officer name in 2020.
The content platform is strongly committed to Belgian local stories, complemented by more international content and can also rely on the regular contributions of independent columnists and knowledge experts.
Editorial manager comments
Editorial manager Jurgen Vluijmans explains: “We are delighted that we have now welcomed 3,000 readers. With this we can present the necessary critical mass for further growth. Since the first lockdown last year, we have focused even more on further digitalisation and professionalisation of our platform, always with our target audience in mind. For example, we have set up a monthly podcast with Dutch- and French-speaking professionals, we have started to organise events, such as Portfolioweek, and we send our registered readers several newsletters a day.”
Together with Fondsnieuws in the Netherlands and Investment Officer in Luxembourg, whose language is English, Investment Officer is now growing into a real Benelux platform, which has a lot of added value to offer both readers and commercial parties.
Name change announced
Last week, Fondsnieuws, which was launched in 2008, announced that it will change its name to Investment Officer as of the first quarter of 2022.
Editor-in-chief Cees van Lotringen recently explained this decision at the Fondsevent, the largest knowledge and networking event for investment professionals in the Netherlands: “We have decided to do this because we have long felt that the name Fondsnieuws no longer really covers the scope of what we do. When we started in 2008, products such as investment funds were still the main focus, but for some years now, both in the Netherlands and in the other two countries, the focus has increasingly been on the added value that experienced and highly trained investment experts and consultants can offer their clients: investment officers in other words,” explained van Lotringen at the time.