Etienne de Callatäy, Geert de Bruyne, Jacky Goossens and Patrick Keusters have partnered to create new asset management company in Luxembourg, Orcadia.
Focused on balancing performance, risk management, proximity and social betterment, Orcadia will aim to promote responsible investment and implement a business model in line with this social orientation.
Orcadia's creators highlighted the features and values around which it will aim to revolve:
- Investing in shares, sovereign bonds and corporate bonds, in 'responsible' investments according to a methodology taking into consideration environmental, social and governance criteria;
- Creating a partnership culture, supporting professional growth and skills development, sharing responsibilities and benefits, with the belief that customer service will be positively affected. To this end, Orcadia will be practicing a remuneration policy which limits wage differentials and which does not bind the variable portion of compensation to short-term individual performances, so that employees work in the exclusive interest of clients;
- Developing both a consistent and open, modest and ambitious organisation which is strong in convictions and listening. With a view to translating into action what academic research recommends, both in terms of investment strategy and social impact, Orcadia established a Study Committee ('Comité d'Etude') and a Support Committee ('Comité d'Accompagnement'), which each bring together external experts;
- Proposing a pricing which is transparent and devoid of bias. Orcadia practices a single fee schedule, without exception, and is compensated exclusively through a management commission, without any form of financial incentives. Its revenues are neither influence by the nature of investments, and therefore the level of risk incurred, nor by the volume of transactions;
- Providing customers with attractive terms through a reasonable management fee and negotiating an advantageous charge from depositary banks;
- Ensuring the reductions of its environmental footprint and compensating for CO2 emissions. A first building block was announced as the choice of location for Orcadia offices in a building that won an award of the sidelines of the COP21 conference in Paris last December;
- Pouring 10% of annual profits created by Orcadia into philanthropic purposes, chosen in consultation with customers.
Orcadia has agreed to collaborate with custodian banks in Belgium, France and Luxembourg, which were selected on the basis of their financial strength and specialisation in trade execution and reporting for clients. Orcadia chose to outsource with partners in their respective legal, IT and auditing fields.
Etienne de Callataÿ, who is Chief Economist at the University of Namur and UCL in Belgium, is chairman of the board at Orcadia, whilst Geert De Bruyne, former CEO of Bank Degroof Luxembourg, is delegated administrator.
Orcadia became fully operational in Luxembourg on 11 April 2016, following a certification process from the Minister of Finance.
