Next-Finance : Could you remind us the role of the FGDR and the current amount of your resources?
Thierry Dissaux : The French Deposit Guarantee and Resolution Fund (FGDR) is a financial crisis operator. Its mission is to serve the public interest, and protect bank depositors and other clients of the financial sector in the event that their financial intermediary fails, and to intervene in the management of banking crises to limit their impact on customers and ensure the stability of the French banking sector. As of 31/12/2019, the FGDR’s equity amounted to €4.7 billion.
What is your current asset allocation? Has it changed since the stock market crisis at the start of the year?
The asset allocation is as follows, on a historical basis:
- 60% money market investments,
- 35% bond investments,
- 5% equity investments.
This allocation has not been changed since the start of the stock market crisis.
Do you think that the current health crisis will strengthen the interest of investors in the ESG theme?
Certainly. In any event, the issue of responsible investment is increasingly responding to concerns of investors, health crisis or not. Another example of the ESG criteria increasing awareness, the European Forum of Deposit Insurers (EFDI), chaired by the FGDR, is developing a social and environmental responsibility initiative, which may include a section dedicated to responsible investment.
Does the FGDR use ESG criteria in its management policy? Do you have any projects or developments in progress on this subject?
Yes, we use Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) criteria. For our next equity tender, we plan to select an ETF equity index which excludes companies with controversial governance and those which have a significant share of their turnover linked to the coal exploitation. In addition, all the FGDR’s asset managers are signatories to the Principles for Responsible investment (PRI).
Do you always delegate the entire management of your portfolio to asset management companies?
Yes, our aim is to define the investment strategy and the investment policy in line with our mission. We do not intend to directly manage our assets. Delegation is therefore a major principle for us.
Do you have profitability objectives in your portfolio? What was its performance last year?
Investments are made with reference to three core objectives which are, in decreasing order of importance:
- equally, liquidity, because we must be able to intervene very quickly to compensate depositors in seven days in the event a bank fails, and preservation of capital,
- thirdly only, the search for return.
With our own allocation, the total return on the portfolio in 2019 was + 1.55%.
