Annual Report 2022
Colin&Cie with positive outlook

2022 was a difficult year on the financial markets and Colin&Cie's profitability also declined slightly during this period. Nevertheless, we continued to invest in people. This trend is expected to continue in the new year.

Review 2022

After overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021, many hoped for a return to normality. With the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February 2022, however, this hope was not fulfilled. On the contrary, the geopolitical situation and sanctions drove up consumer prices and thus inflation. Central banks were forced to raise interest rates significantly.

Demanding financial markets

Behind us lies a decade of zero or even negative interest rate policy. And the return to interest rate normality is actually good news. In the short term, rising interest rates lead to falling prices within the bond markets. Since we had opted for short maturities in our mandates, this price decline was less severe. Thanks to the now higher yields, the outlook for the next few years in bonds is attractive again. In the course of this year, we expect interest rates to come back somewhat and bond prices to rise as a result. Any price declines from 2022 will be compensated for in the next 2-3 years at the latest.

The equity markets also suffered from rising interest rates due to high inflation. Especially technology securities and smaller companies (small/mid-caps), which had benefited from lower interest rates in the years before, now had to accept reductions. In our view, this too is only a temporary effect.

Only alternative investments proved largely immune to these developments and, with a few exceptions, were able to achieve a positive return.

Investment in employee base

Last year we welcomed three new employees. On 1 March, Roland Gerritsen joined us as a partner at the Zurich office for the Dutch market. In mid-August, Pascal Moritz joined us as Investment Officer, also in Zurich, and at the same time we were able to recruit Patrick Henrich in Luxembourg in the area of compliance. In line with our long-term business strategy and our rather anti-cyclical approach, we already started to invest in new partners at the end of the year in order to accelerate the expansion of existing locations and the establishment of new ones.

Profitability has slightly decreased in 2022

As a company, we are closely linked to developments on the financial markets and the results of our clients. After excellent results in 2021, earnings fell by around 12% in 2022, while costs rose moderately by around 1%. For 2023, we expect a normalisation on the financial markets and assume that we will have already compensated for the decline in income within the next months.

Mandatory FINMA licence

On 7 July 2022, we received the additional required licence for independent wealth managers from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in Switzerland at an early stage. This licence enhances the work of the independent wealth management industry, as for the first time they are regulated within the same legal framework as banks. It is a prerequisite for the continuation of Colin&Cie's business activities, which is an important reassurance for clients and employees alike beyond 2022. Of the approximately 2,700 independent wealth managers in Switzerland, 700 received a licence, 1,000 voluntarily ceased their business by the end of 2022 and around another 1,000 are still pending with the Financial Market Authority despite the expiry of the deadline.