Private Banks

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.

Warren Hastings has been appointed as group co-head of investment and head of portfolio Management at Luxembourg-headquartered Quintet Private Bank.

Hastings served for the past dozen years at Credit Suisse, first in Asia and then for the previous five years in Zurich. He was most recently head of investment management, international locations, at that firm. After beginning his career at Schroders as a pan-Asian equity fund manager in London and Singapore, he then joined Standard Chartered, also in Singapore, as head of Portfolio management.

The European banking sector has witnessed a remarkable resurgence, chalking up its best performance since the 2007 financial crisis, according to a recent Deutsche Bank research report. Notably, European banks have narrowed the long-standing performance gap with their US peers.