Banca del Sempione wants to be the ideal partner for its private and institutional clients as they enter into the world of private banking. While constantly pursuing innovation, Banca del Sempione is also careful to maintain and sustain useful traditions. It constantly monitors products that the market offers, ready to select and advise the best ones in the exclusive interests of its clients.
This is the result of its being a private bank, hence free and independent, objective, and not constrained by ties and conflicts of interest. A bank that benefits from the presence of its top management in Ticino, guaranteeing speed of execution, dynamism, and high decision-making capability.
These features are the indispensable starting point for a clear and transparent client relationship which translates into special attention in taking care of the assets entrusted to it, for being a true Private Banker, not only in name, but in deed.
Banca del Sempione, then, is bank that serves as a partner, receptive, professional, flexible, and ready to dedicate the all time necessary to its clients to provide them with comprehensive and effective advice.
The choice of objectives
Each client has different aims and needs. This is why our professional asset management is based on the analysis of yield targets, time horizon, the propensity to risk, and the currency of account.
Fundamental factors that converge in the construction of a strategic model designed around the client’s needs and desires.
Investment targets: What is the investment’s expected yield?
The need to have regular income, the particular aversion to risk, or the search for capital gains through equity investments, these are the basic factors for defining your investment objectives.
Time horizon of the investment: short, medium or long term?
The choice will be based on whether the client needs cash in the short, medium or long term. A longer time horizon allows the investor to absorb price swings will less apprehension with the objective of obtaining higher yields.
Risk tolerance: Low, medium, or high?
As a rule, higher yield expectations entail higher risks. Higher risks are measured in terms of fluctuations in asset value. So it is important to know the client’s willingness and ability to assume the risks that come with the pre-set objectives.
Currency of account: Francs, euros, or dollars?
The currency of account refers to the currency in which the client thinks, fulfils his/her daily commitments and/or uses to measure his/her asset value at any time.
Investment Opportunities
Once the objectives are set, our task is to evaluate the financial markets, the investment vehicles, and the currencies in which to allocate the capital entrusted to us. Always focused on protecting the capital entrusted to us, but ready to seize the best investment opportunities the market has to offer in the framework of active management based on the concept of absolute returns.
Decision-Making Process
The quality of the decision-making process that determines asset allocation is crucial. Alongside the fundamental models, constructed on our key indicators (macroeconomic forecasts, monetary conditions, stock market valuations, corporate earnings growth, and sentiment), we also analyse financial market trends. Tactical asset allocation is the first product of the combination of these two investment philosophies. It defines the portfolios’ weight in the individual asset classes, giving us an indication of the recommended currency exposure, as well as sensitivity to our bond aggregate. The second meeting point between fundamental and technical analysis is the choice of individual positions in the construction of the portfolio, especially the equity component.
Asset Classes
The Bank uses traditional asset classes such as equities, bonds, and classical investment funds. To reduce portfolio volatility and at the same time to seek gradual growth and asset protection, years ago we introduced funds of hedge funds into the ideal asset allocation, correlated with the performance of stock market indices. Completing the range of instruments, convertible bonds (the investor has the right to convert bonds into underlying shares at a pre-set price), real estate funds, commodities, and precious metals.
Setting the tactical asset allocation is decisive for operating success and results. Over the years, we have developed skills and programmes dedicated to the selection of the best performing investment funds on the market. We add these vehicles to our BASE Investments SICAV present in the monetary, bond, and stock sub-funds and to our fund of hedge funds called Lepton. Our management method recreate an ideal mix among the instruments cited above, with the addition of trading in shares selected on the basis of sector preferences and defined by our team of analysts.
INVESTMENT FUNDS
In the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, Banca del Sempione is the sponsor of BASE Investments SICAV, an open-end investment company established on 29 May 2001 and registered in the official list of Undertakings for Collective Investment pursuant to the Law of 20 December 2002, Section I.
The company is organised according to the multi sub-funds, multi-manager principle. The sub-funds have varying, specific investment objectives and different types of risk. Each sub-fund is represented by distinct shares, offering investors that advantage of being able to choose among different investment categories.
BASE Investments SICAV aims to preserve capital, increase assets, and provide investors with a diversified investment portfolio. The ideal minimum investment period is 2-3 years, depending on the features of the individual sub-funds.
BASE Investments SICAV uses the most modern fund management techniques, attaching marked importance to asset picking and the careful selection of outside managers with proven efficiency and professionalism. This approach offers not only different investment methods, it also reduces overall investment risk. Banca del Sempione Group takes care of the research and the selection of managers for each sub-fund with a view to achieving the best results for investors.
Starting from the principle that the SICAV’s various sub-funds are invested in securities, where cash is used as a support, the company carefully picks the markets it wants to operate in, focusing mainly on three asset classes (equity, bond, and monetary).