Geneva-based Lombard Odier is extending a platform for third-party funds to include alternative investments. The move illustrates how private banks are increasingly relying on outside specialists.
Lombard Odier said it is expanding a third-party asset management platform to include alternative investments such as hedge funds, in a statement on Tuesday.
The Genevan private bank’s move is emblematic of the growing recognition in the wealth industry that clients often prefer outside specialists are often better at managing money than they themselves are.
The platform, dubbed Priviledge, contains only funds from outside of Lombard Odier, which also runs a sizable asset management operation of its own.
«One of the main differentiating features is not to mix our in-house funds with third-party ones, we want to maintain the exclusivity and objectivity of the platform», Marc Giesbrecht, Lombard Odier’s head of investment offering, told finews.com.
Bank as Gatekeeper
For clients such as family offices, the platform promises access to products which may not normally be distributed in Europe as well as more transparency and monitoring of their investments. The fees for clients remain the same as with investing directly – a portion to the platform, and the remainder to the external investment manager.
The private bank’s platform has raised more than 5 billion Swiss francs ($5.01 billion) since it was launched more than four years ago. Lombard Odier acts as fund selector and provides the SICAV, or investment framework.
The expansion entails an event-driven long/short strategy, investing in European equities involved in mergers and acquisitions or deals, cap hikes, or other corporate actions. It will be managed by Amber Capital, a London-based hedge fund with $1.8 billion in assets.
