Private Banks

Taking an ‘old-school’ approach to asset management, but in the positive sense of the term, is what CPB Quilvest wants to achieve. The niche asset manager based in Luxembourg and with a branch office in Belgium wants to continue to build on its strengths via a horizontal and open structure. Organic growth is paramount and open architecture is one of the pillars of the business model.

Quintet Private Bank is shifting its strategic asset allocation to a global asset allocation framework. “Focusing your bond portfolio on Europe has a lot of jeopardy in it,” says CIO Bill Street in an interview with Investment Officer.

ING has merged the bank’s investment offices in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. ‘The aim of the operation is to become stronger together,’ says Bob Homan, who heads up the Investment Office which now employs 50 people.

The rationale behind the merger is that the investment offices of the country organisations actually do the same work. ‘They focus on research, asset allocation, selection of instruments and communication,’ says Homan in an interview with Investment Officer. The merger did not cost any jobs.

The Grand Duchy hosts few portfolio management operations, despite being a world leader for cross-border asset and fund servicing. Banque de Luxembourg Investments (BLI) is an exception. According to managing director Guy Wagner: “We are a small boutique asset manager with private banking DNA.”

With less than a week until the SFDR reporting deadline, client advisers and asset managers in Luxembourg and internationally are gently testing the water. From how to classify different funds and what to report to investors, the financial industry is progressing with caution.

Substantial governance-reform targets have been set for banks and investment firms by the CSSF. Some quick changes are required, but otherwise the regulator’s circular letter 20/759 seeks to drive long-term culture change on boards of directors regarding risk, diversity, and sustainability.

Quintet private bank is counting on an accelerated global recovery in the spring and is advising its clients to increase risk in the short term. The bank is overweight equities, especially those from the US and emerging markets.

With the recovery of the global economy that has begun and the support measures of central banks and governments, the climate is favourable for investments in risk assets, according to Quintet’s Bill Street.

Goldman Sachs has registered a new banking entity in Luxembourg this November. The new entity, a branch from Goldman Sachs Bank Europe in Frankfurt, will support the bank’s European business across the private banking, investment, and wealth management space.

The group’s Luxembourg-based entities have grown significantly in recent years, and now include a bank, a fund management company and a number of mutual funds and investment vehicles.

Bank Delen would like to do more acquisitions in the Benelux, says its CEO in an interview with Investment Officer. ‘The Luxembourg market is difficult though, because of the fiscal differences. So we would need to buy a local Luxembourg player with local clients. There are not many of those.’

The integration of Bank Delen’s recent acquisitions in the Netherlands is going smoothly, says Havaux. ‘The customers of Nobel Vermogensbeheer [which Delen acquired in 2019] have all moved to our funds.’

The withdrawal of economic support post-pandemic could cause a shock for Europe’s banks akin to the global financial and eurozone crises, reckons the ECB. How well prepared are Luxembourg’s banks for any potential future financial crisis?