Amplifying Impact via Investment: NextGen 2022
For near 20 years now, BNP Paribas Wealth Management has fostered the creation of a community composed of the next generation of clients—the sons, daughters, and heirs of our current Entrepreneur & Family customers. This new generation is slowly taking the reins of their family business at the same time.
Spanning the globe, The NextGen Experience has sessions each year, each focusing on a different topic: Paris (Amplify your impact with investment), Rome (focused on Art) and into Asia (focusing on entrepreneurship), The NextGen Experience offers its participants insight into the key factors in successful management of family wealth but always with a themed approach that envelops other topical themes dominating current conversations.
Take a look at a video: The NextGen Experience
The 2022 Paris session launched the 2022 NextGen Experience and started with the bedrock of our business and wealth management: investment. Taking a practical approach, the participants spent a morning on “how to construct my investment portfolio”. Edmund Shing, our Chief Investment Officer, outlined how even during uncertain times of pandemics, wars, and inflation, one must carry on with a rigorous approach to investment, not falling to short-term, rash decisions.
You can follow Edmund’s podcast, a new one every Wednesday, via the following link: Podcasts
Maxime Viemont, Economist and Luciana Duprat, Stock Exchange Specialist at BNP Paribas continued on this theme by asking the question “what kind of an investor are you” to the participants… a deep dive into many of the purely psychological factors that influence how rational (or indeed irrational!) one can be when investing in seemingly troubled times. The unique part of this morning was how personalized it was for each participant: identify your individual & family goals, understand the bias you might have in investing and then… execute your investment plan. For each participant the response was different, and our experts helped by asking the right questions.
Two prime examples of investment plan execution then came to the stage. Sustainable investment and Private Equity investment were the two focus case studies, outlining Wealth Management’s expertise in two of many opportunities for clients to build their portfolios and reach their goals. Eleonore Bedel, Global Head of Sustainable Investment, revealed how socially conscious investors can orient their wealth towards products that are financially sound and sustainable. Salim Belkaid, Product Specialist, showed how Private Equity, a tool often reserved for the crème de la crème of investors, can offer both diversification and an opportunity to put wealth in companies with strong potential growth. Both case studies touched on what was said prior: that depending on what kind of investor one is, the right advice and the right options are needed to put that investment philosophy into place.
Shifting gears in the afternoon, the participants looked at how Repair, Reuse, Recycle and how Smart Real Estate are doubling-up investor objectives again showing the finesse that can be put into place when advising clients. Edmund Shing returned to say that one can be both sustainable-investment-oriented and still make growth-oriented investments, even in nascent companies. Felix Böck, the founder and CEO of Chopvalue discussed his company’s fascinating business model of taking used wooden chopsticks and transforming them into other products (furniture, household goods, you name it…). The message was clear: there are opportunities to be both sustainable and business-oriented, and our experts are there to help clients find those very opportunities.
Scaling up, our wealthy clients often have projects that tower over simple market investments—real estate projects, for example. Laurence Desmazières, Senior Director at ICAMAP and Nehla Krir, Head of Sustainability & CSR at BNP Paribas REIM, spoke about how sustainable-oriented investors can, from the ground up, engage in capital projects that mirror their values. Real Estate is a fascinating example because not only are the materials in question—using renewables and constructing long-lasting buildings—but fostering community and social inclusion with green spaces, places for communities to get together, adding even more advantages to already green projects.
The idea of Community wrapped-up the first day of the 2022 NextGen as David Dietz from Nexus Global talked with the participants about how important it was to create, nurture, and develop their network. He used the NextGen programme itself as an example: bringing together like-minded people from multiple countries to discuss common issues, in this case wealth and the responsibilities brought with it. The power of Community cannot be underestimated—so the impact of a trusted circle of financial advisors is further reinforced by a community of peers, of other NextGenners expanding out to further communities aligned with the participants’ individual values.
Check out the news on the partnership via this link: NEXUS Impact Accelerator
“Know thyself”, knowing one’s preferences and goals, and knowing how to reach those goals: the first day of NextGen was indeed a crash course in amplifying NextGeners’ awareness and indeed their investment. When Anne Pointet, Deputy CEO of Wealth Management, came to close the day’s programme, she summarized by saying “When you look at the management of wealth, you can easily be overwhelmed—the variety of today’s subjects is testament to that… So let’s make it simple: it’s your job to help us understand what you want, what’s important to you and your families. It’s our job to provide the advice, expertise, and solutions to make it happen.”
Day two saw the NextGen participants leave the real world and enter the Metaverse. Anchored by a virtual learning expedition led by experts from Accenture (the global leaders in Metaverse advice), the participants took their first steps in theory, understanding the birth of the Metaverse… but Wealth Management always takes the extra step, and the participants could indeed strap on visors and grab handsets, transporting them into the very Metaverse discussed earlier. A true immersive learning experience.
But there were more steps to take… and even with cutting-edge topics and investment like the Metaverse, BNP Paribas is ready to advise clients. Edmund Shing closed the morning with a fascinating talk about how to invest in the Metaverse. From taking speculative bets on start-ups to more traditional investments in iconic GAFAs, Ed outlined the wealth of opportunities for those who wanted to participate in what seems to be a massive shift to a more virtual world. In one of the more innovative-yet-traditional moments, Edmund said that even conservative investors could enjoy the growth in the Metaverse by investing in the nuts-and-bolts that make up this digital world, in Telecoms, for example, or chip makers. Once again the message was clear: BNP Paribas Wealth Management helps its clients identify their objectives and helps them invest in opportunities that correspond to them. A true bespoke approach fitting the specific needs of wealthy clients.
As Vincent Lecomte (CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management) said as he concluded the 2022 edition of the NextGen Experience, “I’m here to say we have an entire team of experts ready to help you on your personal journey.”
And what a journey it was for the NextGeners! See you at the upcoming Next Gen event in Rome: Amplify your impact through Art on 28, 29 and 30th of September.