Alex
39 Rabobank Group Annual Report 2004
Core activities
the number of securities orders fell by 16%. This was offset by an 18%
increase in the number of orders for in-house funds. Fewer futures
transactions caused a 5% decline in the number of orders handled by
Alex. For Robeco Group, the number of transactions in the Netherlands
increased by 14%, due to growing interest in in-house funds.
Joint venture with KBC Bank
In June 2004, Rabobank Group and KBC Bank in Belgium announced
that they were to join forces in the processing of securities transactions
for private individuals. The collaboration, which will take the form of a
joint venture, aims at offering higher quality and flexibility while reducing
costs. The joint venture is to become operational in mid-2005. Also in
2005, the processing of securities orders, which is now performed
separately by Robeco Group, Alex, Effectenbank Stroeve and Schretlen
Co, will be centralised within Rabobank Group.
Servicing the market
Rabobank Group focuses on both private and institutional investors.
Schretlen Co accommodates smaller institutional clients and Robeco
serves larger institutional clients. By means of service concepts, the clients
of the local banks can indicate how they wish to invest their money.
Active private online investors can turn to Alex. Robeco enables clients
to invest in investment funds, but also in individual shares. Effectenbank
Stroeve focuses on active investors with minimum funds of EUR 150,000
available for investment. The upper segment (EUR 500,000 and up) is
served by Schretlen Co. Abroad, international private banking clients
are served via the Swiss bank Sarasin Cie, in which Rabobank Group
holds a 28% interest, and via third-party distribution of the products of
Robeco and its American subsidiaries.
Robeco Group
Mixed results
Assets managed by Robeco Group increased by 5% in 2004 to EUR 113
(108) billion. Institutional clients, including Interpolis, account for more
than half of the assets managed by Robeco. Around 33% comes from the
American subsidiaries Robeco USA and Flarbor Capital Advisors. Flarbor
Capital Advisors in particular was highly successful in 2004. Thanks to the
good performance of its funds, Flarbor Capital Advisors achieved a cash
flow of 7% and growth of assets managed of 12%. Robeco USA showed
a disappointing development, however. In 2004, there was an outflow
of EUR 2 billion, partly as a result of the discontinuation of activities.
Robeco's total net cash flow amounted to more than EUR 1 billion in
2004. An interesting development is the advance of the alternative
products, including private equity, hedge funds and structured products
such as Collateral Debt Obligation (CDO). Assets managed in these
products increased by 15% to EUR 14 billion.
Assets managed by Robeco Group by fund type
Shares
39%
Fixed-interest securities
33%
Alternatives
12%
Money market
9%
Mixed
7%
Mixed performance of investment funds
Robeco's fixed-interest funds have been performing well. Over a three-
year period, the results were excellent compared with the benchmark
and the competition. The leading rating agency, Morningstar, which
compares the returns on funds over a three-year period, rates Robeco's
fixed-interest funds among the best performing funds in Europe. The
equity funds were less successful. Although Rolinco outperformed the
benchmark, the Robeco fund failed to do the same. Compared with
other global investment funds, the performance of both Robeco and
Rolinco in 2004 was average. Every effort is being made to improve
investment returns. In collaboration with Rabobank, Robeco introduced
a new green investment product in 2004: the Robeco CDO Green Bond.
This innovative bond, which entitles the holder to fiscal benefits, invests
in corporate bonds and loans of sustainable enterprises.
Robeco exercises voting rights
Starting in 2004, Robeco has been actively exercising its voting rights at
the General Meetings of companies. It is the first Dutch provider of invest
ment funds to do so. Robeco believes that proper corporate governance
will in due course result in higher market capitalisation. By actively exer
cising its voting rights, Robeco seeks, among other things, to stimulate
information transparency and equal influence for shareholders.
Alex, the best online investor
Alex can look back on an excellent year. The number of clients grew by
10% to 82,000 and assets held in custody were 15% higher at EUR 2.3
(2.0) billion. At 7.8 (8.0), customer satisfaction remained high in 2004.
According to a survey held by Belegger.nl in 2004, Alex offers the best
online investing service. Alex particularly distinguished itself by its
excellent advice and support, portfolio management, order application
and trading opportunities. Alex won the Business Engineering Award in
2004. This award is granted every two to three years by Associate
Business Engineers to businesses and organisations that have taken a
remarkable approach to completing a change process. In addition, the
Platform Information in Marketing named Alex' managing director
Marketeer of the Year.
