Advice to institutional investors:
continued growth.
Capital management: significant growth.
funds, seven companies were introduced on the
parallel market and four on the official market.
The market for Euroguilder notes was active in
1985, twentyfive issues being made. Here, too,
Dutch industry was well represented with eight
issues.
The Bank's position in the international capital
market in the year under review was influenced
by two factors. On the one hand, as mentioned
on page 18, the number of issues rose sharply.
On the other, the pressure of competition
frequently led to very keen issue conditions,
necessitating a more selective approach on our
part. In spite of this, we played a management
role in 402 issues (on ten occasions as co-
lead manager and on one as lead-manager)
compared with 275 in 1984, a clear indication of
the growth of this market.
In this area we act on behalf of institutional
investors in the Netherlands and a large group of
professional clients abroad.
The sum of the transactions carried out on
behalf of Dutch institutional investors rose by
more than 30%, the greater part of the increase
being related to private loans. Besides the
fact that the Government met a larger portion of
its deficit with loans from this sector than in
1984, many local authorities and housing
associations availed themselves of the right of
premature redemption, and the resulting
conversions added to the liveliness of the private
loan market. The sharp rise in turnover in the
private market was to some extent at the
expense of the public capital market.
The fall in turnover in this sector was, however,
more than made good by a substantial increase
in the volume of share and bond transactions on
behalf of institutional clients on the Amsterdam
Stock Exchange and others abroad. The near-
doubling of the number of transactions for
institutional investors on the European Options
Exchange was a further source of satisfaction.
Interest on the part of clients abroad in investing
in guilder securities also increased significantly
in 1985. For the third year in succession, the
emphasis of the growth lay on shares; however,
demand for fixed-interest securities was again
high. Moreover, we achieved a manifestly wider
geographical spread of activities in this area.
Demand from North America and the United
Kingdom continued undiminished, and to this
was added growing interest in the other
countries of Europe and in Asia.
The Bank's role as intermediary in transactions
on the Dutch capital market has meanwhile
spread to a number of branches abroad, which
have built up a substantial business in this area.
The year under review produced a further,
significant improvement in this sector.
The greater popularity of securities as a form of
investment led to significantly greater demand
for our capital management services in the form
of investment funds and the management of
individual portfolios.
With the wider range of funds now available,
every investor can build up a portfolio which in
terms of investment area and type offers the best
return in the light of the economic prospects at
any given time, or meets the investor's own
wishes.
Taking advantage of the significantly improved
outlook for Western Europe, making it more
Increased activity on the Stock Exchange.
