Born 1958, Christoph has worked in global, multi-asset investment management since 1985. His particular investment methodology has roots in the profound changes of decision making processes possible with the digitalisation of research data. At that time, Christoph was working in New York, on behalf of the Zurich based research department of Union Bank of Switzerland (today UBS Group). There, he witnessed the earliest efforts to screen financial information in digital form. The efficiency gains made possible in financial research have had a lasting impact on his investment style and decision making.
As investment manager, Christoph has held senior positions with two of the most highly reputed international asset managers: UBS in Zurich, and Fleming Investment Management in London (today JP Morgan Asset Management). At UBS, Christoph was part of the ‘Special Clients’ team, a group the bank had initially created to service a single, global-balanced account, managed on behalf of a sovereign wealth agency, and subject to stringent investment guidelines. Christoph’s group was later also entrusted with equity mandates for a German family office.
At Flemings in London, having joined the ‘International Portfolios Group’, Christoph became head of the newly created ‘Absolute Returns Portfolios Group’. With Valentine Fleming as chairman, he co-managed ‘Flemings International High Income Investment Trust PLC, a split-capital investment trust quoted on the London stock exchange, investing in global high yield equities. When the need arose, Christoph convinced first the Board, and later the shareholders of that trust to adopt a multi-asset strategy. That hitherto unprecedented move proved highly beneficial.
After leaving Flemings, he worked as Chairman of ‚Geza Investment Management Limited’ before withdrawing from investment management in order to study psychology at Brunel University, Middlesex. Upon returning to Switzerland in the spring of 2000, he implemented the organisational and technical restructuring of a privately owned investment company in Zurich, targeting individual investors.
His experiences with mainstream investment houses and the numerous conflicts of interest encountered therein prompted Christoph to completely re-direct his efforts. A period followed, of systematic research into the effects of existing fee paradigms on investment risk. Numerous new paradigms for investment management fees have their roots in that era. The involvement with IofC, a Swiss foundation for the promotion of social and business ethics, has led to the development of new business models for financial services, fee paradigms based on mandate-compliance and genuine value-added, and corresponding concepts for employee incentives.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]