Wirtschaftsforum: Mr. Dr. Löw, what are your main areas of business?

Dr. Robert Löw: The three pillars of our business are funds, investment properties for investors, and classical wealth management and advisory.

Wirtschaftsforum: What role does sustainability play in the investment sector?

Dr. Robert Löw: We have shifted our consulting and the majority of our products to sustainability some time ago. We meet all relevant ESG criteria. Recently, we launched two new impact funds, a bonds and equities fund, which provide us with the sustainable footprint of the fund at the push of a button, across all three levels – Ecology, Social, and Governance.

Wirtschaftsforum: What role does sustainability play overall for your business and your market?

Dr. Robert Löw: Sustainability is an issue for generations. We are definitely experiencing a change in the market because of it. As a bank, we are intensively engaged with this topic. We aim to achieve a 30% reduction in emissions for our products by 2026. As a bank, we want to become CO2-neutral by 2040, with net zero emissions; that is, without offsetting through certificates. With certificates, we have already been climate-neutral since 2021. We have joined various initiatives and have been awarded the grade 'Very good' for our sustainable investment advice in the Fuchsbriefe bank test among 76 banks in German-speaking countries in Europe.

Wirtschaftsforum: How does the current situation around the war in Ukraine and the resulting economic challenges affect your business?

Dr. Robert Löw: We are now experiencing a paradigm shift. Interest rates are rising and bonds are falling sharply. That's why we developed the Total Return 2.0 investment strategy, replacing traditional bonds with alternative investment assets. These are investment forms that do not correlate with stocks, such as commodity or trend-following strategies and structured products. These solutions have proven themselves last year when bonds fell, and this year it is also a good strategy. We are already seeing high demand. As for real estate, it naturally has an advantage during high inflation. Through indexation in lease agreements, they mitigate or at least cushion the inflation risk. This makes the asset class interesting, but currently, this market is also challenging due to rising interest rates.

Wirtschaftsforum: What makes LLB so sustainably successful in the dynamic financial landscape?

Dr. Robert Löw: With a managed business volume of EUR 30 billion, we are the leading wealth management bank in Austria. Despite utilizing modern technologies, we are still a People’s Business. We place great emphasis on a high level of service and therefore consistently invest in the training and development of our employees. Accordingly, we can provide competent tailored advice. Tailored advice is not possible digitally. It will always be personal. Only in this way can one respond to people and their needs and find the best possible solution. Especially in classical wealth advice, the personal approach remains important. The future will be hybrid, both digital and personal. With the inheriting generation, we are experiencing a shift from analog to digital, from Old Economy to Tech stock – but also here with the desire for personal advice. Last but not least, we have no 'off-the-shelf goods'. We advise individually and holistically. With us, it's not about products, but about themes and solutions, such as prospective investment developments or wealth structuring and transfer.

Wirtschaftsforum: What are your themes for the year 2023?

Dr. Robert Löw: We derive the themes from our 'Act 26' strategy, where Act stands for 'Accelerate and Transform'. Growth, efficiency, and sustainability are important pillars of our strategy. To increase our efficiency, we will increasingly use new technologies, especially to optimize our standard processes. We face the topic of sustainability in our responsibility as an economic enterprise, but also with our investment solutions. We want to grow organically, but also inorganically. Therefore, we continue to be open to banks and investment companies that are a good fit for us. We are thus committed to accelerated and transformed growth.