Talks on hot topics: The lectures and discussions at this year’s Customer Day all focused on topics that are particularly relevant to our industry. From investment behaviour in the low-interest phase to the (im)possibilities of predicting portfolio developments to the latest challenge of the financial world: the subject of ESG.
Digital service vs. real world consulting
After a warm welcome by Dr. Lothar Jonitz, CEO of tetralog and a small “who’s who” through the about thirty-headed round, Norbert Gellert from Gellert Consulting opened the day as speaker with a regional bank perspective. He spoke about the opportunities and challenges in the low-interest environment and also questioned the strategy of many banks to withdraw from the market and relocate services to the digital realm. Regional banks in particular are very much about trust – and to build that trust there is nothing like a meeting in the real world and a direct talk with a consultant of flesh-and-blood.
Customers instead of mystery shoppers: analysis based on real data
Dr. Andreas Ritter, CEO of the IVA, then gave us a look behind the scenes of a large-scale study. In 2018, the Institut für Vermögensverwaltung, together with the magazine Capital, conducted a large-scale study on the performance of independent asset managers – for the first time on the basis of real portfolio data. Over 19,000 real client custody accounts were reviewed on four quarterly reporting dates and divided into three different custody account classes. The result was that those managers who structure portfolios well use high-quality products and keep costs low achieve the best performance in the long term.
What do portfolio analyses and the weather forecast have in common?
Dr. Peter Tigges, CPO at tetralog, then ventured from the precision of a study with real data sets to the topic of predictions under uncertainty. With a wink in the form of an analogy to the weather forecast, he demonstrated how much caution is required when dealing with uncertain or missing information. With the help of a Monte Carlo simulation that can be observed in real time, he also demonstrated in a practical manner how different scenarios of portfolio development can be made tangible and visualized in a way that is comprehensible for the end customer.
Sustainable investment: opportunity or show?
Sarah Widderich, analyst at tetralog, then took the first step into the topic that is currently the subject of particularly heated discussion in the financial world: the question of the potential of sustainable investment in the context of ESG guidelines. As part of a specially designed study, she developed an algorithm that identified companies according to the “Best in Class” criterion – and proved that a positive ESG rating can definitely represent a real opportunity for the positive development and rating of companies.
Absolute or differentiated? The question of the scope of ESG criteria
At the end of the day, Dr. Gabriel Layes, Managing Consultant at IVA, spoke about his experiences with ESG integration in practice. He not only discussed the handling of the enormous amounts of data that have to be collected and evaluated in the course of an assessment, but also put the question at the centre of his presentation as to how absolutely ESG criteria are to be applied – especially for companies that work with many different service providers and cooperation partners.
AGENDA TETRALOG TALKS 2019, Montag, 30. September 2019
Norbert Gellert, Banker und Berater, Gellert Consulting
Low interest rate environment: Observations from the perspective of a regional bank
Dr. Andreas Ritter, CEO, IVA AG
A large-scale analysis of real client portfolios by independent asset managers
Dr. Peter Tigges, CPO, tetralog systems AG
Predictions under uncertainty: Portfolio scenario analyses with Monte Carlo simulation
Sarah Widderich, Analyst, tetralog systems AG
Sustainable (ESG) Investment: Opportunity, cost factor or just show?
Dr. Gabriel Layes, Managing Consultant, IVA AG
ESG Integration in Practice: A Field Report and an Outlook on EU Taxonomy
tetralog talks abstract
More exchange and discourse in times of upheaval
In the business world, communication takes place primarily in institutionalized channels and forms. There are meetings, calls, chat rooms, memos, PowerPoint presentations and, of course, the e-mail channel, which has been notoriously overloaded for at least 10 years. Strangely enough, the substance of what is eloquent seems to decrease in inverse proportion the more digital channels are available. At what level does the discussion of overriding topics take place in day-to-day business? Thoughts on the innovation of one’s own product or on the big strategic direction? How do you get a change of perspective from your own blindness from time to time? There are ways and means, and it is actually not that difficult: new input. Food for thought. Exchange with like-minded people. And a change of location.
For 10 years now, we have been inviting our customers, partners and friends of the company to Munich every autumn for precisely this purpose. Formerly called rather succinct “Customer Day”, this event has not only developed into a beautiful tradition (including a visit to the Oktoberfest), but also into a continuous format for genuine exchange and discourse on changes in the banking business.
We look forward to seeing you again next year!