Fair and Honest Partner – Professional Financial Service Provider
Georg Kornmayer, Managing Director of FONDSNET Vermögensberatung & -verwaltungs GmbH
As a partner of independent financial advisors, FONDSNET Vermögensberatung & -verwaltungs GmbH places the highest value on honesty and transparency – and does so successfully. Since its founding nearly 30 years ago, the company's managed assets have multiplied from 60 million DM to over 35 billion EUR.
"We don't sell anything to our customers," explains Georg Kornmayer, Managing Director of FONDSNET, one of the company's key success factors. "We listen carefully to understand the problems our customers have and offer targeted solutions. Our goal is not to sell unnecessary products that only benefit us. That's why we see ourselves more as a community rather than just an IT service provider. Our customers can rely on this." This attitude is also reflected in the corporate culture: For Kornmayer and his approximately 170 colleagues, integrity is of the utmost importance.
Service Provider of Partners
"Our primary customers are our 1,600 affiliated partners," Kornmayer explains. The corporate group includes five companies in Germany as well as two other units in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. "Our partners use our services or those of our sister companies. These partners in turn advise their end customers on topics such as investment, provision, insurance, real estate, and financing." Here, the software developed by Georg Kornmayer especially supports the entire consulting process.
The Gift from the Company Founders
Already during his school days, Georg Kornmayer earned money by developing software. At the age of 16, after completing his technical school leaving certificate, he moved out of his parents' home in the Black Forest and came into contact with Walter Becker, who had founded FONDSNET with Klaudia Scheidt in 1995. "Walter was a mentor and pathfinder for me," describes Georg Kornmayer about the company patriarch. As a young man, Kornmayer built, among other things, websites for campgrounds with three-digit visitor counts. Eventually, for FONDSNET, he developed programs that recorded hundreds of thousands of clicks. "That was incredibly fun," remembers Kornmayer. In 2005, the two company founders surprisingly gave him shares in their company, and Kornmayer fully joined FONDSNET. Until his death at the end of 2022, Walter Becker supported Kornmayer’s development from an IT enthusiast to the managing director of one of the leading broker pools in Germany.
Consolidated Activities
"In the first three years until 1998, FONDSNET was solely active in independent client consulting," Kornmayer describes the early years of the company. Thereafter, FONDSNET increasingly became a 'wholesaler', as more and more advisors were convinced by the fair conditions and transparent contracts and wanted to work with FONDSNET. When Kornmayer entered the company in 2006, the investment volume managed by FONDSNET was 60 million DM. Today, it stands at more than 35 billion EUR, managed by the affiliated partners as well as by larger financial service providers, banks, and even direct competitors through the platform.
In 2008, FONDSNET Holding was established, acting as an umbrella organization for the business areas of investment, insurance, participations, and financing. In parallel, the IT department was relocated to Berlin. In 2010, the collaboration with BN & Partners began under the roof of the Swiss Reuss Private Group. In 2021, the German activities of the parent company Reuss Private Group were consolidated into Reuss Private Holding. It includes FONDSNET, BN & Partners, Reuss Private Bank for securities trading, .foo – financial engineering, and the financing specialist Haus Finanz Kontor. Overall, the Reuss Private Group today employs 175 staff, generating a revenue of 170 million EUR.
Transparency and Information
"With our software, information on all securities products available in Germany can be accessed," explains Kornmayer. "Existing customer portfolios can be compared with our offerings, and the entire process is completely transparent. Customers can set exclusion criteria, for example, that no arms companies be included in their portfolio." Customers have the choice between conservative or risk-seeking investment strategies, or a combination of both. Through an app or PC, they can access their depots at any time and monitor developments, costs, and returns in real time. A reminder system also reminds them at defined times of tasks such as adjusting investment criteria. This software is used by the 1,600 affiliated partners of FONDSNET.
Legally Compliant Consulting
"We operate in a highly regulated environment," emphasizes Kornmayer. "Our software ensures that the entire consulting process is legally compliant, including the documentation of the legally prescribed ESG criteria. This guarantees that advisors always comply with legal requirements."
Fairness as a Prime Principle
Fairness and integrity are indispensable for Kornmayer – also in the selection of affiliated partners. "We only offer our services to intermediaries who act with integrity," he assures. "I have often seen the nonsense some advisors talk their clients into. We don’t engage in that." Thus, in 2018, FONDSNET terminated collaborations with about 1,500 out of a total of 3,000 intermediaries because they did not align with the company's values.
Minimal Marketing and Sales
"We actually have no real sales and no specific marketing strategy – new partners usually find us on their own," says Kornmayer. "We are quite large and well-known in our niche. If someone seeks contact, we talk and see if it fits. If yes, we work together, if not, then we don't."
The Awareness as a Service Provider
"Our partners have access to products from more than 300 investment and insurance companies as well as hundreds of other financial service providers from both domestic and international markets," explains Kornmayer. "Many advisors don’t want to get deeply involved with product providers and consulting software – they just want it to work." This is enabled by the software developed by Kornmayer, which has since been substantially further developed and today manages billions of data records. Kornmayer is no longer involved in the day-to-day business; the 35-member IT department in Berlin takes care of this. Transparency, commitment, and fairness shape the corporate culture of FONDSNET. "Our motto for the future is: 'Retail goes professional'", summarizes Kornmayer "We want to offer private customers the same conditions that are otherwise only accessible to institutional investors. A product that previously cost 1.5% fees will be available from us for 0.2% in the future."