Carmignac, out to conquer the Swiss market

After 12 years distributing its actively managed Funds in Switzerland, Carmignac announces the opening of its subsidiary in Zurich. Saint-Georges: “Switzerland is an important financial center with great potential”

Carmignac furthers its European expansion by opening an office in Zurich. After 12 years distributing its actively managed Funds in Switzerland, Carmignac announces the opening of its subsidiary in Zurich, demonstrating its long-term commitment to ensure transparency, high quality service and state-of-the-art investment solutions for Swiss based investors.
The full fund range is available to the Swiss based clients including share classes in Swiss Franc, US Dollar, British Pound and Euro. In addition, Carmignac recently launched a new monthly distribution share class within its Carmignac Portfolio Patrimoine fund which sums up to 5%. This new solution enables Swiss based investors to draw an income from their investment and tackle their retirement challenge, especially in a context of negative interest rate situation. These solutions allow them to diversify their portfolios and benefit from our 26 years of outstanding returns and risk management during financial crisis.
Lmf International asked Didier Saint-Georges, Managing Director of Carmignac, to explain the reasons of the landing on the Swiss market.

Saint-Georges, why Carmignac has decided to open a new office in Zurich?

Carmignac’s objective is to grow and protect the wealth of our clients beyond the borders of France, our country of origin. Switzerland is an important financial center with great potential because its different type of clients: Swiss Retail clients, Family Offices, Pension funds and international wealth management.
As we did in the 6 other European countries where we have a local presence, our approach in Switzerland has been gradual and our commitment is long term: we first registered our funds in Switzerland (in 2003) and then decided to open an office once the business was settled.
Carmignac has successfully built strong business partnerships with major distributors in all parts of Switzerland to serve Swiss and international client needs. It now envisages to ensure that Swiss Retail clients have the same opportunities to invest with Carmignac as in all other European countries.

How the team is structured and who is leading it?

The team is structured with 6 people and its members are dedicated to the different areas of Switzerland (French, German, Italian). Placed under the leadership of Marco Fiorini who is Head of Country since 2011, the team will have the task to strengthen their relationships with Swiss Retail and Wholesale clients through a tailor-made regional approach.

What selling proposition you’ll offer to Swiss investors (retail and institutional)? What are the products on which you bet?

The full fund range is available to the Swiss based clients including share classes in Swiss Franc, US Dollar, British Pound and Euro.
The global balanced Carmignac Patrimoine and the multi-asset and multi-strategy Carmignac Capital Plus particularly target the needs of decent returns of Retail investors: Carmignac Patrimoine fund has proved to be particularly efficient to protect client’s portfolios in volatile contexts, like in 2008 when it generated a positive return. The fund has been able to deliver an annualised performance of 9% over the last 25 years. Carmignac Capital Plus fund should also meet Swiss investors’ expectations thanks to its controlled volatility through all markets. The global, flexible and active approach of the fund enables it to generate risk-adjusted returns across all market conditions.
In addition, Carmignac recently launched a new monthly distribution share class within its Carmignac Portfolio Patrimoine fund which sums up to 5%. This new solution enables Swiss based investors to draw an income from their investment and tackle their retirement challenge, especially in a context of negative interest rate situation. These solutions allow them to diversify their portfolios and benefit from our 26 years of outstanding returns and risk management during financial crisis.

How do you structure the distribution of your products in the Swiss market?

We have a regional approach servicing the different client needs of Wholesales, Retail and Institutional clients. We are present on all major investment platforms and act on a regional basis. We have roadshows in all major cities in Switzerland on a regular basis and participate at major investor conferences to offer a regular exchange with the professional market participants. Furthermore we offer access to or investment strategies major currencies EUR, USD, GBP and CHF and also have created “clean-fee” share classes to serve our clients’ needs.

What kind of market is Switzerland? From your perspective, which are the main differences between the Swiss market and the others?

Switzerland seems to be somewhat more cautious than other nations. It takes longer to gain a foothold here than in other markets. Plus, the major institutional investors have selection teams who choose the investment funds. We have to convince them of our products first. These teams, in turn, have to convince the private bankers of a brand. But it makes perfect sense to scrutinize the funds of foreign providers. But once you are established, you also remain present – provided you deliver a good return. The negative interest situation has created new needs for investors. They come to us specialists in search of ways to meet those needs.