Review on the BörsenTalk Flagship Event 2023 – Which Investments Promise the Best Growth Potential?

The BörsenTalk Flagship Event, held on May 31, 2023, brought together an exclusive selection of market experts, investors and academics to explore the latest investment trends and growth opportunities in the current market environment. The event's full-day program and various formats targeted institutional investors as well as experienced retail investors, allowing for an in-depth exploration of current investment topics. Participants not only had the opportunity to gain valuable insights and expand their own knowledge, but also to exchange ideas and make contacts on a personal level. This gave the event an additional unique and valuable character.

Did you miss one of our exciting and lively panel discussions? Review the event - photos as well as recordings of the panels can be found below.

André Buck, Global Head Sales & Relationship Management at SIX Swiss Exchange, set the scene for a day of insightful discussions with his opening speech. The opening of the market was then expertly moderated by Martin Spieler, business journalist, thus ceremonially opening the BörsenTalk Flagship Event 2023.

Panel 1, the Economic Roundtable, moderated by Martin Spieler, produced an in-depth discussion between prominent speakers: Anastassios Frangulidis, Chief Strategist and Head of Multi Asset at Pictet Asset Management; Dr. Anja Hochberg, Head of Multi Asset Solutions at ZKB; and Christian Gattiker, Chief Strategist and Global Head of Research at Bank Julius Baer. Their expertise provided participants with valuable insights into the macroeconomic environment and served as inspiration for making sound investment decisions. The conclusion was that despite high inflation in the Euro area, there is hope that interest rates will no longer rise sharply in the US. Nevertheless, the market situation remains difficult, not least due to geopolitical upheavals. Thanks to the high interest rates, bonds have become attractive and offer good investment opportunities. And Swiss equities are also a good way to counter the current uncertainty - the economy is doing well, which continues to promise attractive returns.

Panel 2 on real estate investments, under the moderation by Carolin Roth, brought together industry experts to discuss opportunities in real estate investments. The panelists, including Florian Hauber, Head Group Treasury & Investor Relations at Swiss Prime Site, Jörg Schläpfer, Head Macroeconomics at Wüest Partner, Martin Neff, Chief Economist at Raiffeisen, and Urs Fäs, Head Investment Products & Real Estate Switzerland at UBS, engaged in an insightful conversation about the potential risks and opportunities in the real estate market. The consensus was that the importance of real estate in investments would probably remain the same and that a bursting of a bubble was not to be expected. This was because real estate investments had no real alternative: the real estate ratios in portfolios would therefore probably remain in the 20-30% range in the future. This is not least due to currency factors. Foreign real estate investments cannot eliminate currency risks. Swiss real estate investments are therefore better positioned in terms of stability and continuity due to the stable Swiss Franc. For this reason, anyone wishing to back the Swiss Franc in this context should invest more in Swiss real estate.

Panel 3 was dedicated to forward-looking saving with ETFs. Moderated by Serge Nussbaumer, Founder & Owner of payoff.ch, panelists Felix Niederer, CEO of True Wealth AG; Mark Vallon, Deputy Head iShares, Head Wealth Investment Managers & Head Digital Wealth Switzerland at BlackRock; and Ramon Vogt, Senior Sales Executive at Vanguard, shed light on the advantages and considerations of ETF saving plans as a modern form of savings. The panelists concluded that the penetration rate of ETFs in Switzerland is relatively low compared to European countries, thus still showing a lot of potential as a savings vehicle. Despite the difficult investment environment, investors should nevertheless take heart and increase their investment quota. It is important to keep up to date with the offers of the individual service providers. Regular portfolio reviews based on the current interest rate and market situation and, not least, on the importance of the current megatrends of Artificial Intelligence and climate change are also recommended.

Panel 4 dove into the world of blockchain and Digital Assets with the topic of Digital Assets. Under the moderation of Rino Borini, CEO of Scarossa and Fintech and Crypto expert, panelists including Darko Stefanoski, Partner, Law and Digital Law Leader Financial Services at EY; Andreas Langenegger, Co-Head Crypto Assets at BEKB; Stephan Kunz, Head Web 3 Services at SIX Digital Exchange; and Andy Flury, Founder & CEO of Wyden, discussed the challenges and opportunities of blockchain and Digital Asset trading. The panelists agreed that there was great confusion among investors regarding terminology: crypto, tokenized or Digital Assets? Here, the regulator would have to ensure uniformity as well as comprehensibility in order to promote trust in these asset classes. As a possible consequence, there are still very few "tokenized assets" that can be traded. There is almost no volume, both in Switzerland and internationally. Nevertheless, we are in a hype phase - at least in terms of communication. The transition to day-to-day operations is still to come - in contrast to the already established Cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, he welcomed the efforts of the exchanges, including SIX Digital Exchange, to establish a regulated and thus secure market.

The keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Aymo Brunetti from the Department of Economics at the University of Bern added a valuable macroeconomic perspective to the event on the topic on "Challenges in containing inflation". The subsequent fireside chat with Martin Spieler deepened the understanding of the topic and provided participants with additional insights into Switzerland's economic situation and the situation between UBS and Credit Suisse. The panelists summed up that in curbing inflation, central banks face major challenges. Additional interest rate tightening would likely continue to be necessary. And it would become clear whether the markets were too optimistic about a pause in interest rates. Major challenges also lay ahead for bank regulation, especially after the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS. Nevertheless, the silver bullet of global resolvability of a major bank should not be abandoned prematurely, and "too big to fail" regulation should be maintained subject to certain adjustments.

The event was concluded with an aperitif, which gave participants the opportunity to exchange ideas and network further with other participants and speakers. In retrospect, the BörsenTalk Flagship Event 2023 proved to be an extremely insightful and inspiring meeting for participants, offering in-depth expert knowledge, up-to-date background information and lively discussions on a range of investment-related topics.

SIX Swiss Exchange would like to thank all speakers for their valuable insights, inputs and opinions! Don't forget: the next BörsenTalk Flagship Event will take place on 29 May 2024 - mark your calendars now!