Page 92 - Monaco Economy 124

PORTRAIT

Do you specialise in UHNWI customers? What You want to «provide a ‘boutique’ approach to the contrary. It is a multi-theme fund where
is the target market in Monaco? wealth management for international clients». we find companies that are present at all the
The number of HNWIs and UHNWIs continues What is the philosophy? different stages of the production chain: solar,
to grow and their expectations are increasingly The heart of our expertise is wealth wind, electronic components...Proof that good
sophisticated. The core of our business is management. Our desire is to offer tailor-made diversification is key!
wealth management for HNW and UHNW services and access to the best investment
clients. Our skills are best suited to this experts. The wealth manager is thus, in a way, What are your development projects? You
clientèle for whom customisation of the the conductor of the orchestra, surrounded by brought part of the Barclays team with you
offer, responsiveness and the ability to handle experts in specific fields (trading, credit, etc). when you became CEO of CMB. Is it a question
complex requests are absolutely central. Our We want to serve these customers globally with of developing the Anglo-Saxon clientèle?
reputation has been built on the quality of our a one-stop-shop approach. This means that our Monaco has more than 140 different
services offered to these customers and will customers have the possibility of finding all the nationalities, so English is the language that
continue to be at the centre of our development services they need in a single establishment. brings together the greatest number and it is
strategy in the years to come. Practicality really is the key! essential to offer this clientèle, who often have
multiple bank accounts, the right skills, both
What has driven the onshorisation of the What impact have - and have had - the latest linguistically and technically. With regard to
marketplace and financial transparency? crises (Covid, then the war in Ukraine and Barclays, with the help of my teams, I grew
What is the evolution of the breakdown of energy crisis) for your customers? and contributed to the influence of that bank
resident and non-resident customers between Although it was impossible to fully anticipate for 12 years and helped it become one of
1976 and today? these crises, the responsiveness of our teams the key players in the market. Some of the
In the 1970s it is true that there was much more and the solidity of our products were decisive staff did, indeed, choose to follow me in this
offshore than onshore. One possible explanation in limiting the impact on our
is that if the decision to settle in the Principality clients’ portfolios. We have, for
was sometimes simply motivated by tax reasons, example, the Short Term Fund “This allows us to offer our
it is now a real lifestyle choice, giving access to (euro and US dollar) which lost
an exceptional way of life and which is chosen by almost nothing, whilst the bond customers the best of both
a increasing number of people – proof of this is markets lost around 20%. The worlds…”
the population census which shows an increasing fund has been very defensive on
trend. This year-round presence is also linked to interest rates with protections
the fact that families choose Monaco as their main against these increases. This
residence and there is also a growing demand principle of prudence and capital protection new CMB Monaco adventure and we have
for services linked to family offices, Monégasque has proven to be a profitable strategy! The recruited, in my opinion, the best talents from
legislation being particularly favourable to this. other fund that performed particularly well many establishments in the Principality and
Today, more than 2/3 of our clientèle is onshore is Eco+. Green themes were very disrupted internationally.
and it is obvious that for these people, having our because of the energy crisis with a carry-over
head office here, in the heart of the Principality, onto fossil fuels; we could, therefore, think that Taking into account global warming, it is time
is an undeniable advantage. Eco+ was not going to perform - and yet quite for sobriety, even reduction. What does this
mean for a bank?
For many years, CMB Monaco has adopted
a responsible approach in its activities. In
concrete terms, this means that for us corporate
social responsibility is fully-integrated into
the strategy and is expressed at all levels of
the bank’s operation. A dedicated database,
allowing categorisation, from an ESG point
of view, of companies, issues, financial
products and credits, to provide information
on the subject to customers, to carry out
reporting within the group and in line with the
requests of European entities, is at the heart
of this commitment. In addition to raising our
employees’ awareness of these themes, we are
also working to put in place a range of financial
products that take ESG criteria into account,
both in the internal management of funds and
mandates and within the advisory offer.

92