Our approach
Durable and trustworthy
We focus on providing real services in the securities sector – that is our speciality.
Our securities specialists provide their clients with long-term professional support.
Your personal investment adviser is at your disposal and can offer investment advice tailored to your personal risk profile.
Professional advice
- No restriction on in-house products (e.g. about funds or bonds)
- Tracking interesting alternative investment ideas
- Spreading the credit risk and preventing cluster risks
- Taking into account the estate planning
Investment products
Product diversity - also referred to as "Open architecture"
Intermediation of securities transactions
For all transferable securities, currencies and gold, we assess whether your investment objectives, knowledge and portfolio composition match the security in question.
Stocks, variable-rate and convertible bonds, investment funds
- Basis of multiple portfolios
- If traded on international stock exchanges
Foreign currencies
- Good addition and diversifier for a well balanced portfolio
- All freely tradable currencies – including currency accounts and tax reporting
- Investments via money market, stocks or bonds
Derivatives, options, complex financial arrangements
- For hedging, collecting premiums or speculation
- Share options on option markets worldwide
- Option strategies (e. g. covered call, short put)
- Structured products (share loans and discount, express and bonus certificates)
- Free choice of issuer e.g. for structured products
Insurances
We are approved insurance brokers in Germany and Luxembourg and can find the right life insurance or pension for you.
- Customised to your personal circumstances e. g. as donations or inheritances
- Liquidity despite long-term invested capital – we can identify banks willing to lend against insurance policies
Loans
An instrument for wealth optimisation
We give you access to credit from our partner banks – for free disposal:
- Minimum loan amount: € 100,000
- In all common currencies: euro, US dollars, Japanese yen or Swiss francs
- Indefinite term
- Serve as collateral:
- custody accounts
- account balances
- or guaranteed redemption values of German life and pension insurance policies
- unit-linked life and pension insurances of the companies “Bâloise Assurances Luxembourg S.A.” and “Lombard International Assurance S.A.”
Advantages:
- You can use your invested assets without
having to sell them (termination of contracts,
loss of interest) - The loan provides liquidity at your disposal
- Maintaining tax exemption on long-held
securities - Increasing the total return (interest arbitrage)
Risks of lombard loans:
- Margin calls if the value of collateral is reclassified
or the collateral is realised at a loss - Leverage through the use of borrowed capital
(both positive and negative) - Losses arising through collateral utilisation will be charged to the borrower
- Leverage from the use of borrowed capital (positive as well as negative)
Your questions – our answers (FAQ):
Please note that the account-holding/custodian bank is responsible for loan allocation and processing and that the terms may be different in individual cases.
No, although we will be happy to welcome you to our premises. By telephone agreement it is possible that we visit you at your place.
The basis for a loan is the specifications of the respective custodian bank. The assets have to have a specific credit rating and must be fungible and liquid. Your advisor can explain further details.
It should be generally broadly diversified und liquid.
- Securities (from a well-diversified portfolio)
- Overnight deposits/time deposits
- Precious metals
The safety of your securities depends primarily on stock type and creditworthiness.
Securities (e.g. equities, corporate bonds, fund units) are generally classified as investment funds and do not appear in the balance sheet of the bank where you hold your account.
No, unfortunately not.
The guidelines for collateralised retail lending provide that the collateral must be assessable on a daily basis, fungible and, in case of doubt, readily convertible into cash. This is why property cannot be used as collateral.
No, unfortunately not.
The external custodian bank must obtain our written consent each time you wish to change your securities account. This would make it impossible to ensure timely execution in accordance with the statutory provisions on best execution policy.
This depends on the client’s wishes and expectations:
With investment advice, you gain access to the competence and extensive experience of your personal contact, who will be happy to advise you on any issues relating to asset investment. You retain complete freedom of choice.
The basis for asset management is a mutually agreed strategy, according to which your portfolio manager makes and liquidates investments independently. You will receive reports about performance trends and asset allocation at regular intervals.
An investor provides collateral valued at EUR 100,000 and uses it to take out a collateralised loan of EUR 50,000 to buy securities. The portfolio amounts to EUR 150,000. The market falls 20%. The portfolio is now valued at EUR 120,000. The lending bank then calls in the loan. The client sells securities at the market value of EUR 50,000 to pay off the loan. If he doesn’t, the bank will sell them on his behalf. The client has EUR 70,000 left. Its losses amount to 30%, even though the market only fell 20%. This is what is known as the leverage effect.
Estate planning
Inheritance and foundation management
Wealth preservation should be planned across generations – we are happy to support you
Aspects of the holistic approach to assets are taken into account.
Timely, forward-looking – and in conjunction with a network of external specialists.
MiFID II – FAQ
Your questions – our answers (FAQ):
MiFID stands for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.
The Roman numeral (II) is the customary abbreviation for the revision of the first Directive, which dates from 2007. The new Directive (2014/65/EU) and the related Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation, MiFIR, Regulation (EU) No 600/2014, come into effect on 3 January 2018. The aim of the MiFID directives is to increase investor protection.
In 2014, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed to revise MiFID in order to increase the efficiency, resilience and integrity of the financial markets and to standardise investor protection within the common market.
No, MiFID II will be implemented across the EU.
Many clients find the increased investor protection rules a burden because the reporting and documentation obligations are more costly. We therefore recommend the use of our “Postbox”.
We have in principle classified you as an “investment client”, so that you can make use of various advantages. To reduce the regulatory requirements for us and thus reduce our related reporting and documentation obligations to you, you would have to be classified as a “professional client” or an “eligible counterparty”. However, this is tied to the fulfilment of specific and very stringent criteria. In addition, you cannot on your own initiative avoid all obligations imposed on us by the Directive.
- Your investor protection rules will be formalised:
In future, suitability testing will be carried out before an order is executed. The outcome of the test will be communicated to you in the form of a suitability statement before the order is placed. - You have more cost transparency:
All costs connected to an investment in securities and the effect of costs on expected annual yields will in future be notified to you in advance and summarised on a yearly basis. - Your order must be executed in your best interests:
This is nothing new but is merely re-stated. The best execution policy defined in the Directive will eliminate potential conflicts of interest between investors and traders as far as possible. As we do not engage in proprietary trading, we have in principle no conflict of interest with your orders. Our best execution policy involves appointing high-quality and reliable traders with their own best execution policy. However, best execution does not always mean matching the best price. Counterparty collateral, liquidity and rapidity are also important.
MiFID II was leading to a significant increase in data exchange and an increased documentation obligation (written information on investments, telephone recordings, suitability statements and cost reporting). Many commentators argue that investors are being “disenfranchised” by the legislators. Many providers of asset management services have reacted to this with increased standardisation, reduced product ranges and the use of costly intelligence (robo advice) in dealings with clients.
Most of our clients are conservative. However, this does not mean that you will not be exposed to any risks at all. We are in a low-interest phase which could last longer but could also end more quickly than expected. Supposed “secure” investments such as long-term government bonds are generating insignificant returns and could lose value if interest rates rise.
The provisions may lead to some being classified as “risk-adverse” to exclude as many investment risks as possible. But there is no such thing as total security.
The best thing to do is to diversify your assets, taking into consideration various investment classes, currencies and countries. In our capacity as intermediary for securities transactions, we will give you information on new products or asset classes so that you understand these and can make your own investment decisions. Adding a new, possibly speculative product/asset can also reduce your portfolio risk by increasing diversification but this is not guaranteed. We are required to document this information. Those who do not wish to enter into this dialogue will automatically have less choice in the future.
To make money in the financial market, you have to accept reasonable risks. These include longer maturities, varying rating quality, higher volatility, dividends instead of interest and lower marketability.
The answer to this question will depend on whether you have given us a mandate or work with us on a contract basis.
No mandate:
In future, all telephone conversations and all email correspondence between us and you will be recorded and archived.
Before we give your order to the market for execution, you will receive cost information and a suitability statement.
The higher your tolerance and appetite for risk, the wider will be your choice of financial investments. Naturally, the decision will remain entirely yours. To enable us to classify you as risk-tolerant, we will in some cases need more information than previously about your financial circumstances. Your usual contact person will be happy to answer any questions you may have about your risk tolerance and help you find the right classification for you.
Asset management:
Before entering into a new asset management contract or when changing strategy, the future strategy will be laid down in a suitability statement.
In future, before you enter into a new asset management contract or change strategy, you will receive information in advance about the future costs.
Under MiFID II/MiFIR, the frequency at which portfolio managers must issue client reports will be raised from every six months to every quarter. The reports must contain valuations of the financial instruments in the portfolio (where necessary using our best endeavours), a review of activities and performance over the reporting period, losses of over 10% in the portfolio and certain other mandatory information. We have already met most of the requirements in our previous half-yearly and annual reports.
MiFID II distinguishes between independent and non-independent advice. Non-independent means that sales commissions from external partners paid on intermediated client orders must be disclosed so that they can be retained.
Independent means that the adviser is paid a flat-rate fee for advisory services. We have decided to offer non-independent advisory services, except in asset management, where benefits are reimbursed to the customer.
We offer and will continue to offer a wide range of financial instruments from various providers, as well as all common individual investments such as fixed-interest investments of various types, issuers and characteristics as well as domestic and foreign equities and options in EUR and foreign currencies.
If you have no mandate, you will receive generic advice and information regarding the mediation of securities turnover to the relevant custodian bank. If you have an asset management mandate, we will make investment decisions on your behalf within the agreed ranges and risk parameters. In both cases, you will be dealing with experienced securities professionals who know you, understand your needs and are committed to doing their best for you at transparent cost.