From futile takeover attempts to plummeting prices on the bear market. Enough to talk about in BNR Zakendoen on Tuesday, where Thijs Knaap, chief economist at APG, joined the investment panel.
It has been a long time since banks gained market share by acquiring each other. “You hardly see that anymore since the credit crisis of 2008,” says Thijs Knaap during the BNR investment panel. However, BNP Paribas seems to be trying to take over ABN AMRO. Although it soon became clear to everyone in the financial world that the deal had no chance of success, the ABN AMRO share price rose by 11%. A handy side effect according to the participants of the investment panel, who unanimously concluded that it is time for the Dutch government to part with ABN AMRO, despite having to take a financial loss.
The bear is loose! It’s a bear market; in other words falling prices and persistent pessimism in the financial markets. Crypto is very eye-catching because so many private people are invest in it. Knaap calculated that over the last few weeks 2 trillion evaporated in that market. “That is 2000 billion!” According to Knaap, the decline in crypto is dwarfed by the decline in shares and bonds of 14 and 10 trillion respectively. Although prices fell much less, these markets are much larger. Nevertheless, he is positive about it: 'You can also turn it around: this is bargain time on the market. Suddenly the expected return on equities is much greater than, say, a year ago.' And because APG invests for its pension fund clients for the long term, Knaap knows that things will always get better over time.
You can listen the show here.