Berenberg, a privately owned European bank, has seen its profits grow by 160% in 2015 on year-by-year basis to €104 million.
The bank’s asset management division offers its services primarily to pension funds and insurance companies, family offices, industrial enterprises, and financial services providers.
According to a statement from Berenberg, due to considerable volatility of exchange rates in 2015, this fuelled strong demand for currency risk hedging strategies, with the bank claiming to be one of the world’s top five providers of active currency management services.
According to Hendrik Riehmer, managing partner of Berenberg, as a third of its core institutional clients are from the US, it was logical to open an office there.
“We have followed our proven approach – securing trading volumes through first-class research on European equities,” said Riehmer.
The bank is hoping to replicate its success in Europe with the opening of an office in New York last year, trading US equities for US investors and providing enhanced services to European investors.
Berenberg is currently establishing a US equities research team, aiming to cover around 200 US stocks by the end of 2016, in addition to the nearly 600 European equities it already covers.
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