Hervé Ordioni, Chief Executive of the Banque Edmond de Rothschild in Monaco, is President of the “Promoting the Monaco Financial Sector” Commission within the AMAF (Association Monégasque des Activités Financières - Monegasque Association of Financial Activities).
What is the role of the Commission which you chair?
As stated in the name, it is to promote the Monegasque Financial Sector overseas, presenting the advantages of Monaco. We aim our message at potential future residents, but also potential new financial sector players: when banks realise that their clients are interested in Monaco, they set up shop here. Indirectly, we support the relocation of banks, asset management companies, family offices and multi-family offices to Monaco.
What advantages of Monaco do you promote?
We have worked hard on the regulatory appeal because a clear and compliant environment offers security. The supervision of banking activities by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority), financial activities by the Commission de Contrôle des Activités Financières (Commission for the Control of Financial Activities) and of data by a local data protection regulator are important assets. It is also important to emphasise that the Monegasque financial sector meets the highest anti-money laundering standards, in compliance with the 4th European directive.
We emphasise the existence, since 2016, of a specific legal framework for Single Family Offices or Multi-Family Offices. We are always attentive to developments relating to these issues in other financial centres. In our role as a coordinator, we consult with the authorities to make suggestions for amending legal texts to improve them.
But clearly, 2019, a record year in terms of assets under management and results, is our best publicity.
And how do you communicate these results?
We use the Monegasque Press, the Monaco for Finance site, launched in 2012, where investors or potential financial players can find answers to their main questions, and now the new magazine, Monaco for Finance.
Furthermore, we collaborate with the Monaco Economic Board, which offers us significant logistical support. Embassy and consular staff also help us: with their support we organise promotional events in certain embassies. Our activities in 2020 do not reflect the extent to which we usually travel, but we have, nevertheless, planned two trips to London. In 2019, we achieved a lot with eight targeted actions including three in London, two in Switzerland, one in France, one in Brussels and one in Liechtenstein. We met a total of 150 certified entities, or 30% more than in 2018.
Do you have a particular target?
London is a big target for us, and Brexit can help us in that respect: Monaco is an international financial centre with an air travel hub which is very appealing to the British. Overall, we are looking for increasingly wealthy individuals, and we must present added-value services. The robust nature of our banking system means that we are able to lend to high-quality individuals. Credit financing has grown by 250% in the past ten years and by 1,000% in the past twenty. As for assets under management, they have grown by 200% in ten years. During this period of uncertainty, robust and resilient institutions are needed to support clients.
