Iceland review - 2013, Page 106

104 ICELAND REVIEW
Invest
In Iceland
MP Bank Focuses on Foreign Investors
Foreign Investors
afTEr THE CraSH in 2008, forEign invES-
TorS HavE BEEn SCarCE and THoSE
Willing HavE faCEd SoME CHallEngES
in invESTing in iCEland - do you agrEE?
It’s true that the situation in Iceland is quite com-
plex and with the capital controls, foreign inves-
tors certainly need to be very well educated and
be very comfortable deploying capital in Iceland.
However, Iceland is in a recovery phase and global
foreign investors looking for yields are finding
many interesting opportunities. We shall also hope
that the capital controls can be dealt with and
abolished in steps in the near future as this would
decrease the uncertainty and spark further foreign
direct investments.
We at MP Bank are dealing with many foreign
investors at the moment. These investors are
looking at various asset classes in Iceland, some
are interested in a specific situation relating to
their respective sectors while others are interested
in a broader exposure to the market, for example
through a fund vehicle. We also deal with various
types of investors, ranging from family offices
to hedge funds and private equity. Some of the
early entrants into Iceland post crash are actually
investors in MP Bank and thus we have had first-
hand experience with investors who are looking at
Iceland from the outside.
Could you naME any SPECifiC
aCTiviTiES THaT you HavE BEEn involvEd
in WiTH forEign CliEnTS?
We have had activities across the bank. We have
had advisory mandates with various investors
looking at specific investment opportunities in
Iceland with our corporate advisory team in addi-
tion to advising several of the foreign companies
MP Bank was founded in 1999 as MP Securities but has since grown into a full service bank. In 2011 a new group of
shareholders took over MP Bank and set a new strategic direction for the future. The bank operates in four business
segments; Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Asset Management and Leasing.
Brynjólfur J. Baldursson is heading up a new division within MP
Bank and among his responsibilities is building the bank’s relation-
ships abroad with foreign investors and partner financial institu-
tions. We cornered Brynjólfur and asked him about the bank’s
activities especially in regards to foreign investor services.
Strategy of the bank
THE BanK HaS BEEn Moving in a nEW
dirECTion?
The new shareholders brought in a new manage-
ment team and changed the strategic direction of the
bank. Our mission is to provide Icelandic businesses,
investors and individuals with selected banking ser-
vices and comprehensive investment banking and
asset management services. We are very focused
on the investment banking operation where we have
a leading position in capital markets and a strong
presence in corporate advisory. We also have a very
strong asset management platform both for institu-
tional investors and private banking clients. In the
commercial bank, we have strategically shifted focus
from general households at large to SMEs and the
enterprising individuals behind the SMEs and other
HNWI. Our strategy is to be able to offer our services
both to our domestic clients but also to our growing
foreign client base which should think of MP Bank
as their first choice when doing business in Iceland.
HaS THE BanK BEEn aBlE To groW in a
CHallEnging MarKET EnvironMEnT?
The past two years have actually been a very excit-
ing time for us at MP Bank. We have seen growth
in all markets both through internal growth but also
through acquisitions. We acquired Alfa verðbréf
in 2011, giving us exposure to the foreign mar-
kets through a partnership with Credit Suisse. We
acquired Jupiter fund management in 2012 which
strengthened our domestic fund platform and last
year we also launched a new leasing division which
is performing very well. This May the bank acquired
Íslensk verðbréf, Asset Management, resulting in
one of the three largest asset managers in Iceland
with ISK 190 billion in assets under management. All
these actions for the past two years will undoubtedly
enable us to better serve our customers.