MEET THE TEAM - Andbank Asset Management Luxembourg

SFF Magazine March 2024

Andbank Group

Today we would like to introduce the Andbank Asset Management Luxembourg team.

Andbank Asset Management Luxembourg is a Luxembourg-based investment fund management company belonging to the Andbank Group.

The Andbank Group owns a bank and an investment fund management company in Luxembourg, but today’s presentation is about the investment fund management company.

Andbank has its headquarters in Andorra, but currently, Spain is its first market, where it has registered a spectacular growth in recent years, reaching, globally, more than 30 billion euros in assets under management, mainly in its core business, which is private banking.

In terms of employees, Andbank has more than 1,200 employees, of which around 60 are based in Luxembourg, including both the bank and the asset management company.

Andbank also stands out for its commitment as a highly responsible company, promoting several products with the social responsibility label and collaborating in various social initiatives, including contributions to several cancer organizations.

The importance of Luxembourg

Andbank is currently present in 12 countries. Spain has the largest presence, but Luxembourg is in the top 5. Luxembourg is for us a strategic location, both for the development of private label investment funds, as well as being an alternative market to Spain within the European Union.

Luxembourg is considered a global investment fund hub and we believe that, despite Ireland’s growth, this leadership position will not change. From our point of view, anyone who wants to have an international presence in the investment fund industry must have a presence in Luxembourg. Having a fund branded “Luxembourg” denotes an image of quality, as it is associated with the stability of the country, the commitment to quality of its regulator and the market as a whole, and very open to cross-border marketing.

Andbank Asset Management Luxembourg

Focusing on our management company, we started in Luxembourg 15 years ago, in 2009. At that time, the investment fund industry was developing rapidly.

After a very dynamic first few years in which years of strong growth alternated with years of stagnation, the last 5 years have been characterized by greater stability, with an unmistakable upward trend and figures that are by no means negligible, considering the size of our bank.

Our products

Concerning the products we offer to our clients, we have a very diversified and competitive range of funds, with three main segments:

Funds holding one of Andbank’s own brands such as Sigma Investment House or Merchbanc: These funds are mainly distributed to Group clients, although they are accessible to any investor through fund distribution platforms.
Family funds: Although open to subscription by any investor, these funds are mainly created at the request of a family group or investor group. They are completely tailor-made vehicles, and we try to adapt them to the needs of the investor group.
“Third-party” funds: In this case, Andbank, as asset management company, creates a casing in the form of an investment fund in order to transfer the management to a third party, generally another asset management company without a presence in Luxembourg (product adaptable to the advisory mode). These funds are also tailor-made for the management company to which management is delegated. Our objective is to ensure that this fund manager simply does what it does best, i.e. manage, while we take care of the other aspects.

In total, we manage around 90 investment funds, with practically all investment vocations:

Global Equity, with profile “Growth”, “Value”, etc. or investing in themes in countries such as Japan, Europe, Spain, etc. ….
Fixed income, both short term and with flexible maturities that allow us to adapt to the market situation. We also have fixed income funds called “High yield”, which invest in riskier assets but with higher expected returns.
Finally, we would differentiate the mixed funds, some of them funds of funds (investment funds that invest in other investment funds, achieving greater diversification), adaptable according to the investor’s different risk aversion profiles (conservative, moderate, aggressive, dynamic, etc.).

Obviously, we encourage everyone to visit our website or fund platforms and check our offer of funds that may be more interesting to you according to your investment profile and needs.

The “third party” fund business is in high demand by many of our potential clients. In fact, we are very proud to accompany in the Luxembourg adventure several Spanish and international fund managers and brokerage firms that have trusted us to take this leap.

Our positioning and added value

Our positioning with Spanish clients focuses on being very close to them, trying to respond to their concerns and needs. The Spanish client values our closeness, not only that we speak to them in Spanish, but also our knowledge of the Spanish and Luxembourg markets, and the knowledge that if they pick up the phone and call us, they will have us ready to help them, which will be more difficult for them with an international firm.

In addition, we try to cover our clients and assist them in everything related to the Luxembourg market: from leading the creation of the fund, the relationship with the regulator and all the counterparties (depositary, administrator, auditor, etc.), along with the day-to-day running of the fund and the performance of all those services that are not the management of the investments themselves.

Our team

We provide these services with a team of 26 people, taking into account the multiculturalism of the country… Although approximately half of us are Spanish or Spanish-speaking, in our team there are French, German, Italian, Belgian, or from different countries of North Africa, etc. and there is even a Luxembourger… That is why in our offices it is common to hear people speaking in different languages, although obviously English predominates as a common language.

We honestly believe that we have managed to maintain a highly motivated team, eager to give their best and keep growing, and we have created a very dynamic and flexible environment, where respect is above all things. Our team combines talent, experience, and the desire to learn and grow that younger people bring.