Hans-Peter Bauer, chairman and CEO of Swiss Finance & Property, plans to apply for a license as a securities broker. He spoke about his expectations and about how he wants to withstand future crises in an exclusive interview with finews.com.
Hans-Peter Bauer, when will the Swiss central bank raise its benchmark interest rate?
Originally, I was active in the interest business and everybody kept being surprised about how accurate our rate predictions were. But now, I’ve been wrong for four years. In other words: I have no idea.
But you don’t expect the tide to turn soon?
It will get tougher, no doubt. I hope we will be fit enough to withstand the storm when it comes. Still, we’ve had times when investors pulled out their assets from certain funds and that’s when things get harder anyway. I hope, and do my very best to ensure that we will be ready for tougher times.
And, at today’s price levels, there are investors who reduce some of their positions to realize gains. If a big client of ours reduces his investments, it can quickly amount to 50 million francs. So far, we’ve always been able to place such stakes with other investors.
Swiss Finance and Property is a pure player and active in real estate only. How will the rate increase affect your business?
A slow increase in interest rates will have a certain «stop-and-secure»-effect on real estate. We would have to improve our procedures and become more efficient, manage more assets per person, do away with unnecessary things and tighten the belt in general.
«Should the increase be more abrupt and brutal, there will no doubt be some turmoil»
Should the rate increases come about more abruptly and brutally, there will no doubt be some turmoil on the markets and only the fittest would survive.
At our annual management off-site meeting, we set ourselves the target of reaching a size which will allow us to survive safely within three years. We also want to achieve a certain degree of diversification.
Could you imagine taking part in a wave of consolidation should there be turmoil in the markets?
The prices charged for companies on the market today are prohibitive. We have a license and therefore have no need to buy a company to get one. We don’t want to buy assets either – instead of spending 30 million francs on assets, we’d rather hire a sales team for a fraction of the price.
Should there however be turmoil, we’d certainly consider our options.
How did you survive the financial crisis?
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