It passed us easily. On the contrary, the crisis prompted a surge into security, into real assets, coupled of course with the unbelievable drop in interest rates.

Apart from the possible tougher times to come: what do you expect the future will bring for SFP?

At the moment, we have some 4.5 billion Swiss francs in assets under management. We definitely want to broaden this base somewhat and then stabilize the ship and the whole system. In some of our products, we currently have 500 to 700 million Swiss francs in assets. The product teams would allow us to increase assets by one-and-a-half, without having to hire more people. Basically, you need the same amount of people for 300 million in assets as for 600 million – the increase in personal isn’t linear.

We also have two new products in the pipeline. Taken together, there is the potential for a clear growth in assets, revenue and profit – to the same extent as in the past four years.

What’s the outlook in relation to the structural development of your company?

We are currently preparing the application to get a license as a securities broker from the banking regulator Finma. We soon will decide when to file the application and if we actually feel fit for it.

In what way will the license help you in your business?

We aspire to receive the licenses as an issuing company and as a market maker. We are one of the biggest issuers of real estate products in Switzerland. And we don’t only sell our own products, but also support our partners in placing third-party products.

«The securities broker is a seal of quality»

The issuers often would like us to act as market maker. To be able to do so, we however need the license as a securities broker.

Securities brokers are relatively tightly controlled – in terms of risk control, compliance, equity etc. This prompts us to make provisions that we otherwise wouldn't have to make. But actually – I quite like that.

People will know that this business is tightly controlled. And this gives us a certain reputation in the market and pension funds for instance will have a greater tendency to entrust us with their assets. The license is a seal of quality.

The development of your company accelerated over the past years, judging from assets under management and numbers of staff. Correct?

Absolutely. It gets less difficult to convince customers to entrust us with their assets once you reach a certain size. Of course, the introduction of negative rates also added a certain impetus, prompting an inflow of money into the real estate market. Part of growth is down to external factors, part is down to our own effort.

You invest in Switzerland, and also abroad. How does the business work outside Switzerland?

Abroad, we only invest indirectly. We put money into real estate funds in London, Sydney, Tokyo or New York. We don’t acquire property ourselves. Instead, we examine the objects a fund that we're interested in holds. We also look at the management and decide whether to invest. The way you examine a business is based on universal knowhow. Our people have more than a decade of experience doing so both in Switzerland and Europe.

In which markets are you active, apart from Switzerland?

One of our funds is invested in European real estate funds. The other in the U.S., Asia, Japan, Australia and Europe. More or less everywhere outside Africa and Latin America.

Hans-Peter Bauer is chairman and CEO of Swiss Finance & Property (SFP). He holds a PhD in Mathematics from ETH Zurich. Bauer also studied Economics in Basel. After concluding his study years in 1984, Bauer started working at UBS in Zurich. He left the bank in 1997 following a string of serious setbacks at the company's derivatives business.

At the time of his departure from the bank, Bauer was head of global fixed income, currencies and derivatives in London. He went on to start his own company together with partners – SFP. The firm has acted as a partner of Samir Sawiris in Andermatt and currently has about 4.5 billion francs in assets under management.