Swiss private bank Lombard Odier launches fintech strategy

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
12th May 2020

Lombard Odier, a Swiss private bank with CHF 54 billion ($55.5 billion) in assets under management, has launched a new global fintech investment strategy through its investment management division (LOIM).

LOIM’s strategy will see it invest in the global expansion of fintechs which dominate the business-to-business (B2B) digitisation space, established consumer markets, and spaces which have the potential for “future disruption”.

“As fintech strategies continue to filter into developing markets, the opportunities will be significant”

An active portfolio of around 50 well-diversified stocks will be put together for Lombard Odier’s private clients, following a “disciplined analysis” of a fintech’s financial track record, business practices, sustainability and valuation.

Ultimately, the bank is looking for fintechs which have a good “combination of structural growth and attractive valuation”.

The strategy will be managed by Jeroen van Oerle, who previously managed Robeco’s fintech portfolio, and Christian Vondenbusch, also from Robeco.

Both joined LOIM in January 2020, alongside the division’s head Henk Grootveld, who previously spent 19 years at Robeco, the Netherlands-based investment manager which manages roughly €186 billion in assets.

“[Investors’] appetite to tap into the speed of fintech expansion, its rate of adoption by financial services firms globally and its impact on global markets has only increased with time,” says LOIM’s head of global equities Didier Rabattu.

“As fintech strategies continue to filter into developing markets, the opportunities will be significant.”

Grootveld adds that the coronavirus has “accelerated” the digitisation of financial services, making the launch of the strategy timely.

“The combination of an increased penetration of ecommerce, countries wanting to reduce the black economy and the hygiene factor are now driving us towards a cashless society even faster than before,” says Grootveld.