Companies in the Nordic countries continue to hold the majority of their liquidity in bank accounts. And they don’t have plans to diversify, despite the threat of negative central bank interest rates being passed on to them.
Denmark’s fund buyers expect lower returns from their investment portfolios over the coming years. And even according to a fund manager speaking at Expert Investor Denmark, they are right to expect little return from equities going forward.
Here you can see a selection of photos taken at Expert Investor Denmark, held in Copenhagen on 12 April 2016.
Dutch and Swedish fund buyers predicted the equity market correction that shook investors in January. Their peers from Denmark and Belgium, however, need to polish their crystal balls.
Frank Reisbøl, MD of Banque Carnegie Luxembourg, is always looking for high-conviction, often smaller, managers for his multi-jurisdictional clients. But not those who chase every last basis point, since that could risk his main objective – value preservation.
They have been the most popular asset class since the final quarter of 2014, but for how long will the European equity mania continue? Saturation is setting in slowly, but at the same time it seems investors are seeing few alternatives to the asset class yet.
Denmark’s fund buyers expect equities to return about six times as much as bonds over the next five years. However, these clear dispersions in return expectations do not show in their buying behaviour, which has been rather erratic of late.
See below for a slideshow of photos from Expert Investor Denmark, October 2015 at Moltkes Palace
While Danish investors remain bullish about the prospects for European equities, they are also in risk-on mode when it comes to bonds.
The Danes are once again Europe’s most optimistic investors, with a record 83% of them having a positive macroeconomic outlook. They are in a convincing risk-on mode, with continuously high demand for European equities and relatively big appetite for risky bonds.
In part two of this interview, Allan Møller explains what he expects his exposure to alternative strategies to do for him, and elaborates on market risks further down the road.
