For many in the Marbella area, BinckBank is synonymous with the introduction of modern platforms with 21st century functionalities and tools that make investment accessible, safe and effective. Now the pioneering Dutch firm is merging with Saxo Bank to lead the way in modern investment banking.
BinckBank first established itself on the Costa del Sol in 2007 as the Alex investment bank. It was renamed some years later and the company has now provided almost 15 years of uninterrupted investment banking services to residents and asset owners in and around Marbella. In the Netherlands, the track record goes back further, with BinckBank being a Fintech pioneer that was one of the first companies in Europe to develop an online platform offering private investors and professional traders fully supported yet autonomous access to the markets and their various investment options.
“We have seen the world change around us due to a new wave of technological developments, and the banking and investment sectors are certainly not immune to such movements of time,” says Kaspar Huijsman, who heads BinckBank’s Marbella office and operation in Spain. “For investment, you used to be dependent upon brokerage firms or buying standard packages from banks. The former comes with heavy charges, and now that we’re in such a low-interest environment the returns you receive from banks are not even enough to protect you from inflation, low as it is.”
The Markets Versus Real Estate
For many, investing was therefore too expensive, risky and complicated, so it remained largely restricted to a financial elite. People who speculated with their own money often did very well, but the cases where they lost out were more clearly etched in their minds, so there is a certain apprehension about the stock markets as being volatile and dangerous. “It is no different from investing in any other form of business undertaking or asset, such as real estate,” says Kaspar. “Making or losing money is not down to what you do, but how you do it.”
If you understand the processes and apply a risk-managed strategy to making your money grow, every kind of investment, be it the stock markets or property, can offer solid returns. “However, the difference is that you can check the current value of your stock assets at any time, whereas the current value of a home is much harder to determine in an on-going way. Moreover, it offers greater flexibility and speed, as you can sell your shares or change the mix of assets in a day, while it can take months to sell a property and get your money out of it.”
Such limitations notwithstanding, a lot of people feel they understand real estate much better, and that it offers a bricks and mortar solidity that the markets don’t, yet the economic and social factors that affect the values of both these types of assets are largely the same. However, unless you are trading directly in specific companies, the funds and ‘baskets’ that bundle different firms, sectors and investment products together are designed to offer capital growth while spreading risk. They therefore tend to be more generic in nature, and less affected by localised factors like different street values, how trendy a particular suburb is right now, or if your view is better than your neighbour’s.
Taking The Cost Out Of Investment
There was a time when the safest way of earning a little from your money and hedging it against inflation was to place it in a savings account at your bank, but interest rates are now so low that this option has basically disappeared in the developed world. “These days, the only way to safeguard your savings against devaluation is by making them work for you. Fortunately, platforms such as ours are the way forward in investment, as they lower the fees you once paid to brokerage firms significantly, give you control over your own money, and provide you with full support and expert information on which to base your investment decisions,” states Kaspar.
Kaspar and his team of banking and investment professionals guide clients through the process, from understanding the online functionalities and tools at their disposal; accessing and sorting value-added information; and also developing an investment strategy that suits their risk level and financial goals. “People are sometimes scared because they believe they will have to become actual traders who spend whole days tracking the markets and reacting to changes,” says Kaspar, “but while professional brokers do this, the majority of our clients have a medium to long-term investment strategy with managed risk where their money is spread in a variety of products and asset classes.”
This often involves choosing different funds such as ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) that contain a specially selected mix of assets. These track the market performance and require little more than occasional analysis and adjustment in line with changing macro conditions, and certainly not the daily involvement of shorter-term trading. “Although we don’t give formal investment advice from this office, we provide training courses, seminars and full support in developing your own, informed strategy, and this includes being available at any time to look at your portfolio and any possible adjustments that might make it leaner and reduce risk or enhance returns.”
Combined with the ability to establish automatic stop-loss orders when your stocks drop below, or reach a certain point, it is a convenient, cost-effective and safe way of making your money work for you. With the service and global market expertise of BinckBank, and the state-of-the-art platform technology and global reach of Saxo Bank now combined – the advent of 21st century investing in Spain is now stronger than ever.
WORDS MICHEL CRUZ PHOTOGRAPHY KEVIN HORN
BinckBank Tel: (+34) 951 565 656 / Tel UK: 00 44 203 901 2756.