Private Banks

In an uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic environment, Iris van de Looij has recently taken charge of investment teams at InsingerGilissen, Quintet’s private bank in the Netherlands. The bank is currently in a slightly defensive mode, but sees scope to add some more risk to its portfolio again. 

Christine Lynch has been appointed as Group Chief Risk Officer at Luxembourg-headquartered Quintet Private Bank. She joins from HSBC, where she served for over 25 years, most recently as chief risk officer wholesale and as head of enterprise risk.

Lynch will also be a member of Quintet’s Authorized Management Committee, subject to regulatory approval. She succeeds Philip Tremble, who retired last year following more than four decades in banking.

While many asset managers continue to explore private investments amidst growing market uncertainties, Optimix Asset Management has consistently avoided them. “Investors don’t need private markets,”  said Jelte de Boer, managing director of Amsterdam-based Optimix, a Dutch subsidiary of Swedish bank Handelsbanken.

Private banks will have to get serious about outsourcing if they want to prosper once interest rates come down, says Pascal Martino, partner at Deloitte and co-author of a new report on tech leadership in private banking.

The European Commission has cleared the acquisition of Belgium’s largest private bank Degroof Petercam by CA Indosuez, a subsidiary of the Paris-based Crédit Agricole group.

The Commission said on Monday that it concluded that the proposed concentration does not raise competition concerns given the limited market positions of the companies involved.

With the official launch of Eltifs 2.0 in early 2024, the private semi-liquid private funds market is undergoing a revival, both in terms of products and assets under management.

Belgian investor Frank Vlayen has taken a 47.5 percent stake in Antwerp-based Leo Stevens Private Banking. CEO Ive Mertens believes this deal will solidify the stockbroking firm’s independent trajectory.

Despite declining valuations in private equity, Schroders Capital’s European private equity chief Richard Damming remains confident, dismissing concerns as mere industry “noise”.

In the face of fluctuating private equity valuations, Damming reassures that they remain undeterred. “You sell a company at the price you want to sell it for, and otherwise you don’t sell it,” says the head of Schroders’ European PE branch. 

The industry’s objections to a divisive EU Retail Investment Package are being heard in Brussels, it has become clear in recent weeks. Investors could end up pulling the short straw, critics argue. ABBL says a clearer definition of retail investors is important for private banks and wealth managers.

Quintet Private Bank, based in Luxembourg, has forged a partnership with Berlin-based digital investment platform Moonfare. The alliance aims to bolster Quintet’s private-market offerings to select clients while extending Moonfare’s distribution reach.