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3nd Financial Community Update
Investor Relations in the Financial Industry
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The third event of our “Financial Community Updates”
was dedicated to investor relations in the financial sector. Three prominent personalities in this field took
the opportunity to present their view of financial markets.
William Hall was the Swiss correspondent of the Financial Times for seven years. Shortly before returning to
England he talked about his experience with Swiss companies and their communications policies. Years ago financial
communications were still treated like PR, but now IR is actually IR. However, he also noted that the amount
of information disseminated nowadays was sometimes too extensive – concentration would be welcome. William
Hall summarized his needs as a media representative with the sentence, "Tell about the business, and answer
my questions”.
Dr. Konrad Hummler, Managing Partner of Wegelin & Co. Privatbankiers, presented his view of the current
situation in the financial sector, corporate strategies and communications policies in a spirited, straightforward
manner during a discussion with Stefan Senn, Head of Investor Relations at Swiss Re.
“Financial markets are information-processing machines but they never condense information into one particular
certainty, only into certain probabilities”, noted Hummler. Communication has to be understandable, he
went on. Anything puzzling will damage the trust of the financial community. He also noted that financial companies
in particular should report less about short-term profits and more about future strategies.
In response to Senn’s question whether the current discussion about corporate governance represents a backward-looking
orientation, Hummler said that he didn’t believe that more formalism would resolve the problem. Entrepreneurial
responsibility is not divisible. Running a business means “trial and error”. Even corporate governance
guidelines have to allow for “error”.
He refers to annual Surveys when analyzing companies and attaches considerable importance to the notes in small
print. Usually a company will be followed over a long period before deciding whether or not to invest in it.
A company primarily has to have a credible way of making money and the larger picture has to be right. |
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