Daniel Siepmann and Cindyrella Amistadi (Credit Suisse): driven by Real Estate Funds

[According to]Cindyrella Amistadi - CEO of Multiconcept Fund Management S.A.  (Multiconcept)- and Daniel Siepmann, CEO of  Credit Suisse Fund Services (Luxembourg) S.A. (Credit Suisse Fund Services),  being part of the same group enables their companies to efficiently deliver first class services to Credit Suisse’s Asset Services clients.

How do your businesses work together?

Cindyrella Amistadi (CA): with Multiconcept, Credit Suisse Fund Services and our Luxembourg Depositary Bank, we can provide a one-stop-shop approach for our clients. As separate entities, we carry out our duties independently, but being part of the same group enables our clients to streamline the communication process and focus on what they do i.e. manage assets and distribute while we deal with all other operational and compliance aspects of the business activities.

Daniel Siepmann (DS): Credit Suisse Fund Services is the administration provider for all the group’s businesses in Luxembourg, including in-house funds. As we also serve as a hub for other fund domiciles within the group, we can profit from a high scalability of our operations.

 “We’ve been growing faster than the market for the past three years”

How do you view the outlook for 2018?

DS: We have been growing faster than the market for the past three years, especially in third-party business across all asset classes. Expansion in private equity and real estate business has been particularly strong over the past 18 months. We have a strong track record in alternative asset classes, such as Microfinance, Senior Loan and other private debt. As a consequence, more than one third of our fund portfolio became subject to AIFMD since it came into force. We are optimistic about our future growth, even by looking into our confirmed onboarding pipeline.

CA: The group has invested heavily in private equity and real estate (PE/RE) over the past two years, recruiting key experienced people and implementing new business tools for those asset classes, and we have decided to offer portfolio management capabilities for real estate funds. These investments are already paying off and put us in a prime position for further growth in the future.

How do you see the market environment evolving?

DS: It will be interesting to observe the influence of Brexit and interest rate changes on our industry. UK-based asset managers are all looking at a choice of three jurisdictions for post-Brexit activities: Luxembourg, Dublin and Frankfurt, and we can meet their requirements by offering two of the three options. Cindyrella is already serving Irish clients via passporting our Luxembourg Management Company while we support their fund administration. Higher interest rates could lead to a shift between asset classes, but our broad capabilities enable us to implement a vast range of strategies our clients decide to follow, whether in the illiquid or liquid assets.

CA: I am very optimistic too. By leveraging our capabilities throughout the group, including in Switzerland where we have huge real estate expertise, we should continue to benefit from the strong momentum in PE/RE. There is a lot of complexity resulting from new rules, but the Luxembourg regulator has a culture of service to the industry that enables us to adopt a highly proactive and dynamic approach. There is always a vigorous conversation taking place between all players in the market, which ultimately is critical to understanding and serving our clients better.