“The world seems to be upside down at the moment,” says Werner Zenz, spokesman for the Board of Spängler Bank. First Corona, then the war in Ukraine, that leaves its mark on the capital markets. “We have to be prepared for a bumpy journey in the near future.”
It is a challenge for a bank specializing in private banking to at least preserve the real value of an asset. One is currently confronted with a real interest rate of minus seven percent. There is no way around tangible assets such as shares. Gold is an “interesting safety anchor”, he recommends adding up to five percent. However, he would not buy bonds at the moment. “The alternatives are cash or shares,” says Zens.
He expects the European Central Bank (ECB) to increase the negative interest rate of 0.5 percent that banks have to pay for deposits with the central bank to zero percent by the end of the year. He expects two increases of 0.25 percent each in key interest rates by the end of the year.
Depreciation in the value of ward money
A particular concern of Zenz in this environment is to bring the “economy principle” more to bear in the case of trustworthy investments. A portfolio consisting of trustee bonds has generated a loss of 1.5 percent per year over the past three years. The addition of other asset classes such as shares is urgently needed. This is also legally possible, but the guardianship court must agree. But that is not the case in practice.
Bankhaus Spängler developed well in this environment last year. The operating result rose by 31.8 percent to 9.8 million euros. The customer volume of deposits, loans and securities increased by 14 percent to 9.7 billion euros. The core capital ratio is 14.5 percent.
The Linz branch, headed by Johann Penzenstadler, made a not inconsiderable contribution to this. The 16 employees contribute 15 percent to the result. The Linz branch was able to increase its business volume (assets under management) by 20 percent to 1.2 billion euros in the previous year.
The bank employs a total of 260 people in nine branches. With Innsbruck, one was added this year, next to Kitzbühel it is the second in the state of Tyrol. In addition to Salzburg and Linz, Bankhaus Spängler is also represented in Vienna and Graz.
In the previous year, Spängler Institutional GmbH was also founded. In the future, the aim is to specifically address institutional customers such as chambers, insurance companies or pension funds, explains Zenz. (hn)
Source: Nachrichten
