The industry talk between Ralf Lochmüller, founding partner and CEO at Lupus alpha and Hans Joachim Reinke, CEO of the Union Investment Group, focused on the development of the asset management sector, the challenges of retirement provision and the future of investing. Both agreed that the sector has been characterised in recent decades by enormous growth, democratisation of capital investment, and technological change. Reinke stressed: “Today, everyone can buy anything, there’s nothing that doesn’t exist.” Lochmüller added that technical transformation and digitalisation have fundamentally changed asset management.
A key issue was pension provision. Reinke called for an intelligent combination of early retirement pensions and a reform of the Riester pension: “The government needs to create an alternative for people between the ages of 6 and 66.” Lochmüller criticised the policy for ignoring demographic challenges for 30 years and advocated mandatory occupational retirement provision for micro-enterprises: “Actually, a taxi driver, a saleswoman, a hairdresser should also be entitled to company pension plans.”
On product diversity and ETFs, both agreed that there was room for active and passive approaches. Reinke said: “We’re active asset managers, but where we lack expertise, we add ETFs.” Lochmüller emphasised the importance of specialisation and product clarity: “Our ambition is to be the first quintile of an investment cycle in our strategies.”
Finally, both expressed optimism for the future of the fund industry, despite all the challenges. Reinke wanted the industry to have “strategic added value from fundamental active asset management and a regulatory environment that favours private retirement provision.” Lochmüller added: “We need to rekindle enthusiasm for the future – and not just manage the distribution budget.”
To conclude, Hans Joachim Reinke brought a cake to mark the 25th anniversary of Lupus alpha and pledged a generous donation to the charitable organisation “Die Arche”. Die Arche has been committed to disadvantaged children in Germany since 1995 – there are also many regional projects in Frankfurt.