Ilias Georgopoulos
COMPANY :
Credit Suisse - MultiConcept Fund Management S.A.
POSITION:
CEO
The 4S approach
Substance, safety, service and sustainability will guide the growth of MultiConcept Fund Management S.A.. An interview with its CEO, Ilias Georgopoulos.
Can you present MultiConcept Fund Management S.A. in brief?
As a Super ManCo, MultiConcept Fund Management S.A. holds the dual licence for UCITS and AIFM. It is 100% owned by Credit Suisse Group AG, and our activities are supported by a team of over 30 people in total, located mainly in Luxembourg, and also in Ireland, in Poland and of course in Switzerland. We interact with over 150 counterparties and service over 60 asset managers, whose business is equally divided between UCITS and AIFs. Our growth accelerated in 2019 and 2020 with almost € 10 billion in net new assets. Our growth strategy to support optimally our clients is based on four aspects. Firstly, we provide the full range of services and products necessary for UCITS and AIFs in Luxembourg and Ireland. Secondly, we are highly capitalised and cooperating with multiple regulators like the CSSF in the Grand Duchy, the CBI in Ireland and the FINMA in Switzerland. The third focus is service: our highly qualified employees have an average of more than 15 years of experience in the fund industry and they are supported by a structure, which is tailored to our clients’ needs. Last but not least, our focus on sustainability involves combining ESG criteria, green finance and diversity. These aspects act as our pillars to support sustainably the development of our clients and of course the local financial sector.
How are your clients’ needs evolving?
Our client business is evolving in a holistic way with opportunities at the UCITS level and an accelerated growth in the private assets space, which explains the balanced distribution in our activities between mainstream and alternatives. We are focused on three main types of institutional clients – Asset Managers, Pension Funds, and Financial Institutions – and we have observed a tremendous increase in requests for institutional solutions by family offices and UHNWIs. An increase in regulations has helped the market to mature and has resulted in an on-going consolidation, leading to the increased outsourcing of the role of fund management companies to focused and committed specialists like MultiConcept, with a high quality of services and long-term market vision. We are currently taking full advantage of this consolidation.
What are the challenges and opportunities within the market?
Alternative products are growing rapidly. Further, digitisation and digitalisation also represent an opportunity, for two different reasons. Firstly, the ease of access to information by means of digital media offers a wide range of possibilities for reporting, control and operations optimisation such as subscription/redemption activities in a fund. Secondly, digital innovation will inevitably revolutionise our activities; for example, the tokenisation of investments. I believe that as soon as there is the appropriate regulatory framework in place, players who are used to working with UCITS are in an ideal position to respond to the transformation of these “hard” assets into dematerialised assets, making the activity comparable to stock exchanges. You will be able to buy portions of property like stocks in the near future.
Yet, it is important to note that Luxembourg’s success has always been based on its capacity to create products that are seen as prime brands. This was the case due to the efficient regulations that accompany these products and services and of course to the diverse talent that understands them and helps in their evolution.
The challenge will lie in maintaining this balance to meet the expectations of institutional investors.
Facts & Figures
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Birthday: 1st July 1967
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Birth place: Athens
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Nationality: Greek and Luxembourgish
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Children: 2 children: 20 et 15 years old – A boy and a girl
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Languages: Greek, French, English, and several European languages but only at “restaurant” level
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Hobbies: producing my own olive oil in the south of Greece named “Margo” and Classic cars
MY FAVOURITE -
Cities: Athens (night life), Barcelona (atmosphere), Copenhagen (serenity), NY (paradoxes), Beijing (appearances)
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Book: The Odyssey (Homer). So many metaphors and homecoming (team, family, the life voyage, ...). A lifetime inside a book, and every chapter can be a life on its own.
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Restaurants: agnostic as long as taste and service are there! My preference is with meat, fresh vegetables with good olive oil and a good Bordeaux wine
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Music: all as long as rhythm moves you
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Artwork: Painting and architecture. I am impressed with the Louvre. I like when the architecture of the cities meets nature.