Frank Jons: chromatic explosions!
He could have ended up as a partner in an auditing firm, but a job interview convinced him to follow his true calling: painting. Interview.
Steve Bernat (ONE group solutions): More Than a Management Company
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In a changing world, investors are looking for more flexible approaches to asset management. Steve Bernat, founding partner at ONE group solutions, talks to us about how his company does this. Interview.
How is ONE expanding to meet its clients' needs?
Let me start with the growth we’ve had since we started five years ago. The business that Revel Wood and I founded started with ten people. Now we have 100 colleagues servicing 150 clients globally across all asset classes, liquid and illiquid. Our customers include leading global asset managers, family offices, first time fund managers, and everything in between. Companies who trust us in Luxembourg take us to other jurisdictions. One of our clients took us to Ireland last year where we have an operational team, and we are opening up in London in September with a team to provide services to Ireland and UK domiciled funds. Since we have a global client base, we have representative offices in Zurich, New York, and Asia.​
"Every time
I look at risks,
I focus on opportunities."Steve Bernat
How do you differentiate yourself?
Our number one differentiator is that we are privately owned, but we are also more than a management company. We act as a fund governance solution provider. Besides acting as manco/AIFM, we provide corporate services, corporate compliance, and advisory services to our asset manager clients. You can buy our services in a bundle or on a stand-alone basis. This is a reaction to a strong trend that we have seen, where more and more asset managers want individual bits and pieces of the management company service. Facing pressure on costs or hiring freezes, they want to remain in charge with an internal manco while outsourcing specific activities. We can provide this for them, leveraging our next gen tech and a very stable team with close to 0% turnover.
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What risks and opportunities do you see right now?
I am a very optimistic person. Every time I look at risks, I focus on opportunities. The main opportunity right now is that assets managed by third party mancos are increasing. Asset managers understand the value of focusing on core activities. This is clearly our opportunity: we specialize in providing tailored solutions for each client. At One, this is a cultural feature and we already do it for 150 clients, creating greater efficiency through our next gen tech and regulatory oversight. Being in Luxembourg, the largest fund domicile in Europe by far, is a true blessing. New clients arrive in Luxembourg every day. On the risk side, I feel that overregulation could become a problem. We must comply with everything, but we should not be gold plating. The new government is clearly addressing these issues right now, so I remain very optimistic!
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