Day: 28 March 2023

MeDirect Bank announces solid business and financial results for 2022

Posted on by ingrid.micallef@medirect.com.mt

MeDirect Group, announced a profit after tax of €8.7 million in 2022.  These results were achieved during a year in which the Group made significant progress in executing its business transformation plan, including by further investing in technology and developing its Wealth SuperApp for retail customers in Malta and Belgium, expanding its mortgage offering and continuing to transform MeDirect’s balance sheet. In 2022, MeDirect grew its retail customer base to 108,000, holding €4.2 billion of client financial assets, of which €1.4 billion were investments held in custody with MeDirect. Despite the challenging capital markets environment, MeDirect achieved wealth product penetration of 37% of its retail depositor base, with wealth customers holding an average of €58,000 in financial assets with MeDirect.  MeDirect continues to operate with solid capital and liquidity ratios which exceed all regulatory requirements and recommendations. 

During 2023, MeDirect aims to offer more innovative solutions to democratise investing while expanding into its third European market, the Netherlands. In investment services, MeDirect will scale its MeManaged service, launched at the end of 2022, which offers clients access to a fully digital and highly accessible discretionary management service, managed by MeDirect, in partnership with BlackRock. New products are planned for 2023 that will further guide and support clients in their investment journeys. MeDirect will also offer virtual and physical cards, giving clients greater ability to use MeDirect for their daily needs. Additionally, MeDirect plans to leverage its cutting-edge tech capabilities by offering its platform on a software-as-a-service basis to financial institutions looking to launch or expand their digital wealth capabilities.

In a video published today, Arnaud Denis, Chief Executive Officer of MeDirect, discussed the bank’s performance and strategy, stating: “Throughout the year, MeDirect remained focused on its purpose: to empower customers to grow their wealth with confidence and autonomy.” Denis added, “I would like to thank all our customers for their trust and our teams for their dedication to ensuring we deliver on this purpose. Our 2022 profit will strengthen our capital base in a challenging market environment, leaving MeDirect well placed to push forward with more exciting developments in 2023.”

As noted in its 2022 annual report, MeDirect’s strategic roadmap is based on four pillars: 

  • Building the WealthTech platform,
  • Growing the retail franchise,
  • Derisking and diversifying the balance sheet, and
  • Strengthening the operating model.

MeDirect’s efforts to establish itself as a pan-European WealthTech leader were given a significant boost by the deployment of its Wealth SuperApp in both Malta and Belgium. The App provides customers, in one place, very convenient daily banking capabilities as well as a broad range of online investment solutions, with easy access to more than 5,000 financial investments, including approximately 1,750 mutual funds, 480 ETFs, 250 bonds and 3,000 equities, trading on 17 stock exchanges around the world.

MeDirect continues to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, as evidenced by the fact that 90% of MeDirect customers who held an account five years ago continue to be customers today. In Belgium, MeDirect was rated third amongst Belgian banks for investment products by Spaargids.be.

In 2022, MeDirect continued to de-risk and diversify by growing its mortgage portfolio to €2 billion, of which €1.8 billion are Dutch NHG (government guaranteed) mortgages and reducing its international corporate lending portfolio to €512 million, representing less than 11% of the total balance sheet as at the end of 2022. The mortgage portfolio is hedged against interest rate risk and is financed in part through MeDirect’s Bastion mortgage securitisation programme.  In partnership with Allianz Benelux S.A./N.V., MeDirect built its platform to originate Belgian mortgages, with €132 million of Belgian mortgages held on balance sheet at year end. In late 2022, MeDirect also launched a professional buy-to-let product in the Netherlands, in partnership with Build Finance, a Dutch buy-to-let specialist firm. In Malta, MeDirect has used innovative technology to set new standards in the Maltese mortgage market in relation to time-to-quote and time-to-approval. By year-end 2022, MeDirect had originated €68 million of Maltese mortgages. MeDirect also continued to grow its successful Maltese corporate lending and banking services businesses.

MeDirect strengthened its operating model by building its proprietary tech capabilities and improving efficiency. As one of its core competitive advantages, MeDirect owns the intellectual property of critical elements of its value proposition. To date, over 28 million lines of code have been deployed. Notwithstanding significant investments in technology and product development, MeDirect has been able to maintain its fixed cost base almost flat from 2021. It has also opened a tech hub in Turkey to complement its core team of developers in Malta.

Mr. Denis said: “MeDirect has been deeply transformed over the past three years, combining the DNA of a tech company and a bank, focusing on delivering innovation and high quality of service in a reliable and safe manner. This is reflected in our successful WealthTech platform, offering innovative solutions that are easily understood and accessible by all. It also comes through in the effort we put in to give our employees the best possible working environment and career development opportunities. Finally, we focus on ensuring we operate responsibly with the highest environmental, social and governance standards.”

MeDirect’s commitment to ESG was reflected in MeDirect’s Non-Financial Statement, published together with its Annual Report and Financial Statements. The statement details the ESG Strategy which has been adopted by the Group, the progress achieved in 2022 and the various targets which MeDirect has put in place to ensure that it meets, amongst other objectives, the requirements set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

More information, including the full Annual Report and Financial Statements is available at https://www.medirect.com.mt/about-us/investor-relations/.

MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc, company registration number C34125, is licensed to undertake the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371) and investment services under the Investment Services Act (Cap. 370). MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc is regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority as a Credit Institution under the Banking Act 1994.

MeDirect Bank iħabbar riżultati kummerċjali u finanzjarji sodi għall-2022

Il-Grupp MeDirect, ħabbar profitt wara t-taxxa ta’ €8.7 miljun fl-2022. Dawn ir-riżultati nkisbu matul sena li fiha l-Grupp għamel progress sinifikanti fl-eżekuzzjoni tal-pjan tat-trasformazzjoni tiegħu. Dan kien jinkludi aktar investiment fit-teknoloġija u l-iżvilupp tal-Wealth SuperApp għall-klijenti f’Malta u l-Belġju, l-espansjoni fis-servizz tal-home loans u il-kontinwazzjoni tat-trasformazzjoni tal-balance sheet ta’ MeDirect. Fl-2022, MeDirect kabbar in-numru ta’ klijenti għal 108,000. Il-klijenti tal-Grupp bejniethom kellhom Eur4.2 biljun f’assi finanzjarji, li Eur1.4 biljun minnhom kienu investimenti miżmuma f’kustodja ma’ MeDirect. Minkejja ambjent makroekonomiku volatili, MeDirect kiseb penetrazzjoni fis-settur ta’ l-investimenti ta’ 37% tad-depożitanti tiegħu. Il-klijentili għandhom investimenti mal-bank, għandhom medja ta’ €58,000 f’assi finanzjarji ma’ MeDirect. MeDirect qed ikompli jopera b’kapital sod u proporzjonijiet ta’ likwidità li jaqbżu r-rekwiżiti u r-rakkomandazzjonijiet regolatorji kollha.

Matul l-2023, MeDirect għandu l-għan li joffri aktar soluzzjonijiet innovattivi għad-demokratizzazzjoni tal-investiment filwaqt li jespandi fit-tielet suq Ewropew tiegħu, l-Olanda. Fejn jidħlu servizzi ta’ investiment, MeDirect se jsostni is-servizz MeManaged, li tnieda fl-aħħar tal-2022 biex joffri lill-klijenti aċċess għal servizz ta’ discretionary portfolio management li huwa kompletament diġitali u aċċessibbli għal kullħadd. Dan is-servizz huwa mmanigjat minn MeDirect, fi sħubija ma’ BlackRock. Prodotti ġodda huma ppjanati għall matul l-2023, bl-għan li jkomplu jiggwidaw u jappoġġaw lill-klijenti fl-investimenti tagħhom. MeDirect se joffri wkoll cards virtwali u fiżiċi, li jagħtu lill-klijenti kapaċità akbar li jużaw lil MeDirect għall-bżonnijiet bankarji tagħhom ta’ kuljum. Barra minn hekk, MeDirect qed jippjana li juża l-kapaċitajiet teknoloġiċi avvanzati tiegħu biex joffri l-pjattaforma tiegħu fuq bażi ta’ software as a service lill-istituzzjonijiet finanzjarji terzjarji li qed ifittxu li jniedu jew jespandu l-kapaċitajiet diġitali tagħhom fis-settur ta’ l-investimenti.

F’vidjo ppubblikat illum, Arnaud Denis, Kap Eżekuttiv tal-Grupp MeDirect, iddiskuta l-prestazzjoni u l-istrateġija tal-bank, u qal: “Matul is-sena l-oħra, MeDirect baqgħa ffukat fuq l-għan tiegħu: li jagħti l-għodda necessarji lill-klijenti biex ikabbru l-ġid tagħhom b’kunfidenza u awtonomija.” Denis żied jgħid, “Nixtieq nirringrazzja lill-klijenti kollha tagħna għall-fiduċja tagħhom u lit-timijiet tagħna għad-dedikazzjoni tagħhom biex niżguraw li nwettqu dan il-pjan. Il-profitt tagħna tal-2022 se jsaħħaħ il-bażi kapitali tagħna u jpoġġi lil MeDirect f’pożizzjoni tajba biex ikompli jimxi ‘l quddiem.”

Kif innutat fir-Rapport Annwali tal-2022, il-pjan strateġiku ta’ MeDirect huwa bbażat fuq erba’ pilastri:

• Bini tal-pjattaforma WealthTech,

• Tkabbir fir-retail franchise,

• It-tnaqqis tar-riskju u d-diversifikazzjoni tal-balance sheet, u

• It-tisħiħ tal-mudell operattiv.

Ix-xogħol ta’ MeDirect biex jistabbilixxi ruħu bħala pijunier Ewropew fis-settur tal-WealthTech ingħata spinta sinifikanti l-quddiem bit-tnedija tal-Wealth SuperApp tiegħu kemm f’Malta kif ukoll fil-Belġju. L-App toffri servizzi bankarji li l-klijenti jkollhom bżonn ta’ kuljum mingħajr xkiel, kif ukoll firxa wiesgħa ta’ soluzzjonijiet ta’ investiment onlajn, b’għazla għal aktar minn 5,000 investiment finanzjarju, inkluż madwar 1,750 mutual fund, 480 ETF, 250 bond u ishma fi 3,000 kumpanija li jiġu nnegozjati fi 17-il borża madwar id-dinja.

MeDirect kompla jżomm livelli għoljin ta’ sodisfazzjon tal-klijenti, kif jidher mill-fatt li 90% tal-klijenti ta‘ MeDirect li kellhom kont ħames snin ilu għadhom klijenti llum. Fil-Belġju, MeDirect ġie ikklassifikat fit-tielet fost il-banek Belġjani għal prodotti ta’ investiment minn Spaargids.be.

Fl-2022, MeDirect kompla jnaqqas ir-riskju u jiddiversifika permezz tat-tkabbir tal-portafoll tal-home loans għal €2 biljun, li minnhom €1.8 biljun huma NHG Olandiżi (ggarantiti mill-gvern). Fl-istess waqt, MeDirect naqqas il-portafoll ta’ self korporattiv internazzjonali tiegħu għal €512 miljun, li jirrappreżenta inqas minn 11% tal-balance sheet. Il-portafoll tal-home loans huwa hedged kontra r-riskju fit-tibdil tar-rati tal-imgħax u huwa ffinanzjat parzjalment permezz tal-programm ta’ Mortgage Securitisation Bastion ta’ MeDirect. Fi sħubija ma’ Allianz Benelux S.A./N.V., MeDirect bena pjattaforma biex jgħati home loans fil-Belġju, li ammontaw għal €132 miljun sa l-aħħar tas-sena. Lejn l-aħħar tal-2022, MeDirect nieda wkoll prodott fl-Olanda ghal dawk li jixtru proprjetà ghall-kiri. Dan seħħ fi sħubija ma’ Build Finance, ditta speċjalizzata Olandiża fis-settur buy-to-let. F’Malta, MeDirect uża teknoloġija innovattiva biex jistabbilixxi standards ġodda fis-suq Malti tal-home loans fir-rigward taż-żmien li jittieħed biex toħroġ kwotazzjoni u ż-żmien sakemm l-applikazzjoni tiġi approvata. Sa tmiem is-sena 2022, MeDirect kien sellef €68 miljun f’home loans f’Malta. MeDirect kompla jkabbar in-negozju tiegħu fis-settur korporattiv, kemm fejn jidħol self, kif ukoll servizzi finanzjarji oħra b’suċċess.

MeDirect saħħaħ il-mudell operattiv tiegħhu billi bena l-kapaċitajiet teknoloġiċi proprjetarji tiegħu u tejjeb l-effiċjenza li jopera biha. Bħala wieħed mill-vantaġġi kompetittivi ewlenin tiegħu, MeDirect jippossjedi l-proprjetà intellettwali ta’ elementi kritiċi tas-sistemi tiegħu. Sal-lum, ġew mnedija aktar minn 28 miljun linja ta’ code. Minkejja investimenti sinifikanti fit-teknoloġija u l-iżvilupp ta’ prodotti ġodda, MeDirect żamm l-ispejjeż fuq l-istess livelli ta’ l-2021. MeDirect fetaħ ukoll ufficju fit-Turkija biex jikkumplimenta t-tim ewlieni ta’ developers f’Malta.

Is-Sur Denis qal: “MeDirect għadda minn trasformazzjoni kbira matul dawn l-aħħar tliet snin, li matula għaqqadna d-DNA ta’ kumpanija Tech ma’ dik ta’ bank  filwaqt li ffukajna biex  nniedu prodotti ġodda ta’ kwalità għolja filwaqt li nibqgħu noffru servizz  konvenjenti u affidabbli. Dan huwa rifless fis-suċċess tal-pjattaforma tagħna tal-WealthTech, li toffri soluzzjonijiet innovattivi li jinftiehmu faċilment u li huma aċċessibbli minn kulħadd.  Parti minn din it-trasformazzjoni ġiet riflessa wkoll fl-isforz tagħna biex nagħtu lill-impjegati l-aħjar ambjent tax-xogħol possibbli u opportunitajiet biex jimxu l-quddiem fil-karriera tagħhom. Fl-aħħar nett, dejjem niżguraw li noperaw b’mod responsabbli bl-ogħla standards ambjentali, soċjali u ta’ governanza tajba.”

L-impenn ta’ MeDirect lejn l-ESG kien rifless fin-Non-Financial Statement ta’ MeDirect, ippubblikat flimkien mar-Rapport Annwali u d-Dikjarazzjonijiet Finanzjarji tiegħu. Dan id-dokument jagħti dettalji dwar l-Istrateġija ta’ l-ESG li ġiet adottata mill-Grupp, il-progress miksub fl-2022 u l-miri varji li MeDirect stabbilixxa biex jiżgura li jilħaq, fost għanijiet oħra, ir-rekwiżiti stabbiliti fil-Ftehim ta’ Pariġi dwar il-Klima.

Aktar informazzjoni, inkluż ir-Rapport Annwali sħiħ u d-Dikjarazzjonijiet Finanzjarji huma disponibbli fuq https://www.medirect.com.mt/about-us/investor-relations/.

MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc, bin-numru ta’ reġistrazzjoni C34125, huwa liċenzjat biex joffri servizzi bankarji skont it-termini tal-Att dwar il-Kummerċ Bankarju (Kap. 371) u servizzi ta’ investiment skont it-termini tal-Att dwar is-Servizzi ta’ Investiment (Kap. 370). MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc huwa regolat mill-Awtorità Maltija għas-Servizzi Finanzjarji bħala Istituzzjoni ta’ Kreditu taħt l-Att Bankarju tal-1994.

BlackRock Commentary: Recession – but no central bank rescue

Posted on by rosalie.sammut@medirect.com.mt

Wei Li – Global Chief Investment Strategist, together with Alex Brazier – Deputy Head, Nicholas Fawcett – Macro research, and Ann-Katrin Petersen – Senior Investment Strategist all forming part of the BlackRock Investment Institute, share their insights on global economy, markets and geopolitics. Their views are theirs alone and are not intended to be construed as investment advice.

Key Points

No ignoring trade-off: Central banks confront the growth-inflation trade-off, with the Federal Reserve seeing recession but no rate cuts. We agree – and prefer inflation-linked bonds.

Market backdrop: Bank stocks remained under pressure last week. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield slid further as the market priced in a series of Fed rate cuts.

Week ahead: We’re watching inflation data on both sides of the Atlantic this week for further signs of it staying elevated, while monitoring the ongoing banking sector woes.

The central bank trade-off between crushing activity or living with inflation is now impossible to ignore as economic damage and financial cracks emerge. That was evident in the Federal Reserve’s forecast of recession this year and sticky inflation in years to come. Central banks have clearly separated responses to the banking tumult and kept hiking rates. We see a new, more nuanced phase of curbing inflation ahead: less fighting but still no rate cuts. We favor inflation-linked bonds.

The progression of the Fed’s forecasts shows it has been repeatedly too optimistic on both growth and inflation – that’s the trade-off in action. See the chart. Its latest projections imply a recession in the months ahead, with growth stalling later in 2023 after a strong start to the year (red line). The Fed still doesn’t plan to cut rates because inflation is persistently above its 2% target. So it is expecting to live with lingering inflation even with recession – it sees PCE inflation remaining above 3% at the end of 2023 (yellow line). It doesn’t see inflation falling back near its target until 2025. Even so, we think the Fed is underestimating how stubborn inflation is proving due to a tight labor market: Inflation could remain above its target for even longer than that if the recession is as mild as the Fed projects.

The Fed and other central banks made clear banking troubles would not stop them from further tightening. U.S. authorities acted swiftly to help stem contagion by protecting depositors from bank failures. By clearly separating financial and price stability goals and tools, major central banks carried on with rate hikes through the tumult. The Fed, European Central Bank and the Bank of England all did so. Even the Swiss National Bank lifted rates by 0.5% just days after facilitating a takeover of long-troubled Credit Suisse. The bank troubles imply higher borrowing costs and tighter credit availability – and are part of the economic and financial damage we’ve long argued would come. That damage is now front and center – central banks are finally forced to confront it. We think this means they are set to enter the new phase of curbing inflation that we’ve been flagging. We see major central banks moving away from a “whatever it takes” approach, stopping their hikes and entering a more nuanced phase that’s less about a relentless fight against inflation but still one where they can’t cut rates.

No rate cuts this year

Markets have been quick to price in rate cuts as a result of the banking sector turmoil and the Fed signaling a coming pause. We don’t see rate cuts this year – that’s the old playbook when central banks would rush to rescue the economy as recession hit. Now they’re causing the recession to fight sticky inflation – and that makes rate cuts unlikely, in our view. Stocks have held up due to hopes for rates cuts that we don’t see coming. We think the Fed could only deliver the rate cuts priced in by markets if a more serious credit crunch took hold and caused an even deeper recession than we expect. We stay underweight developed market (DM) stocks because we don’t think they reflect the damage we see ahead.

Inflation is likely to prove even stickier than the Fed expects without a deep recession, in our view. The February U.S. CPI data confirmed our view that inflation is still not on track to settle at the Fed’s target. Current market pricing of U.S. and euro area inflation just above 2% on a 10-year horizon has edged lower recently – we think levels are likely to stay much higher than that. This is why we see value in inflation-linked bonds and prefer them to nominal peers. We also find very short-term government paper attractive for income given the potential for the market to price out rate cuts quickly. Strong money market demand provides additional support, in our view. We’re underweight long-term government bonds as we see yields rising with investors demanding more compensation for holding them, or term premium, given persistent and volatile inflation.

Bottom line

We overweight inflation-linked bonds and like very short-term government paper for income. We stay nimble in the new regime of greater macro and market volatility – and are ready for opportunities as rate-hike damage gets priced in.

Market backdrop

U.S. and Europe stocks steadied, even as bank and financial shares remained under pressure. Some European bank default protection costs jumped on the week. The U.S. two-year Treasury yield extended its historic drop and is down about 1.4 percentage points from a 16-year high hit earlier this month, causing a further steepening of the yield curve. The market is now pricing in about 1 percentage point of Fed rate cuts by the end of the year. We don’t think such cuts are coming.

We’re watching inflation on both sides of the Atlantic – including the Fed’s preferred PCE inflation gauge and flash inflation in the euro area. We expect services inflation to keep core inflation elevated. We’re watching U.S. consumer confidence as well for more signs of damage from still-rising rates, sticky inflation and banking sector troubles.

Week Ahead

Mar 28: U.S. consumer confidence

Mar 31: U.S. PCE inflation and spending; euro area inflation and unemployment

BlackRock’s Key risks & Disclaimers:

This material is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. The opinions expressed are as of 27th March, 2023 and may change. The information and opinions are derived from proprietary and non-proprietary sources deemed by BlackRock to be reliable, are not necessarily all-inclusive and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. As such, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by BlackRock, its officers, employees or agents. This material may contain ’forward looking’ information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader.

The information provided here is neither tax nor legal advice. Investors should speak to their tax professional for specific information regarding their tax situation. Investment involves risk including possible loss of principal. International investing involves risks, including risks related to foreign currency, limited liquidity, less government regulation, and the possibility of substantial volatility due to adverse political, economic or other developments. These risks are often heightened for investments in emerging/developing markets or smaller capital markets.

Issued by BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 12 Throgmorton Avenue, London, EC2N 2DL.

MeDirect Disclaimers:

This information has been accurately reproduced, as received from  BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited. No information has been omitted which would render the reproduced information inaccurate or misleading. This information is being distributed by MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc to its customers. The information contained in this document is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide legal or other professional advice nor does it commit MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc to any obligation whatsoever. The information available in this document is not intended to be a suggestion, recommendation or solicitation to buy, hold or sell, any securities and is not guaranteed as to accuracy or completeness.

The financial instruments discussed in the document may not be suitable for all investors and investors must make their own informed decisions and seek their own advice regarding the appropriateness of investing in financial instruments or implementing strategies discussed herein.

If you invest in this product you may lose some or all of the money you invest. The value of your investment may go down as well as up. A commission or sales fee may be charged at the time of the initial purchase for an investment. Any income you get from this investment may go down as well as up. This product may be affected by changes in currency exchange rate movements thereby affecting your investment return therefrom. The performance figures quoted refer to the past and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance or a reliable guide to future performance. Any decision to invest in a mutual fund should always be based upon the details contained in the Prospectus and Key Information Document (KID), which may be obtained from MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc.

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