Don’t blame banks for bad investments

Banks and wealth managers should not be held responsible for their client’s bad investments, according to Willem van Someren Gréve, executive senior vice-president of Robeco Asset Management.

The senior investment manager railed against what he sees as a culture where the wealth manager is automatically deemed responsible for the amount of risk its clients take and where no free will or understanding is attributed to the end investor.

He said: “Banks and distributors are always blamed when things go wrong but individuals are the ones who should take the blame. They know what they are buying and how much risk they can afford to take, but they see the stock market gong up and they can’t resist the chance to get involved. Clients are taking more risk than they can afford and there is a lot of dishonesty there.”

Mr van Someren Gréve said that while risk profiling has been seen as paramount, other factors must be given attention, such as matching the client’s portfolio to future liabilities and selecting the right products.