6 | Acquisition International, CSR Awards 2025 Best Sustainable Asset Manager 2025 – Belgium & Client Service Excellence Award 2025 eveloping products for intra-group distribution and providing both investment fund sales and direct as well as indirect investor support, everything KBC AM does is carried out with a sense of innovation – something that has been in its DNA right from day one. The company aims to be the reference in the investment domain in each of its core markets, making investment a healthy financial habit for everyone whilst keeping its clients comfortable. It does this by approaching investments in a bespoke and efficient manner. More recently, AI technology has been added to aid in this. “Over the last ten years, KBC Mobile – our mobile banking app – has evolved into an all-in-one platform that is now the reference. Kate, our new virtual assistant, has been the logical next step in the digital client experience ” All of this fuels the day-to-day motivation behind KBC AM, which is to make investing easy, personal, valuable, and reliable. A big focus is on helping savers to become investors, a feat it achieves by providing them with easy solutions (over two million active investment plans), an easy channel (seen through the company’s mobile-first nature, with 58% of all plans being sold digitally), and an easy journey (this is where the Kate virtual assistant comes in, holding clients’ hands as they traverse the investment world). Talking us through the company’s processes in a bit more detail, Frank told us: “Our solution development team creates solutions from initial idea to launch and initiates changes to and challenges existing solutions to make sure they match the clients’ needs at all times.” He continued: “The solution support team offers clients direct investor support, providing personal, relevant, and up-to-date information as well as training and after-sales services, putting digital channels first.” As of the end of the third quarter in 2025, KBC AM’s total assets under management amounted to just shy of €292bn, a total made up of €123bn direct client money, €22bn group assets, €80bn fund of funds assets, and €66bn investment advice assets. €64bn of direct client money is also invested responsibly. The company’s success in managing these funds and helping to make investing a healthy financial habit – for firsttime and growing investors– is reflected in its 88% client satisfaction, highlighting KBC AM’s distinction. Commenting further on the elements setting KBC AM apart in the field, Frank explained its sustainability strategy, which has netted it an award in this programme. “In implementing our sustainability strategy, we focus on local communities and economies”, he told us. “We are conscious of the impact of our operations on society and respond to societal needs and expectations in a balanced, relevant, and transparent manner. In doing so, we acknowledge the situation in each of the local economies of the core markets in which we operate.” “Environmental responsibility is one of the four areas we focus on as part of our sustainability strategy. We are working on our environmental impact within the framework of our Sustainable Finance Programme. The programme spans a range of themes such as climate change, biodiversity, circularity, pollution and water ” Again, this comes down to the people at the heart of KBC AM, who embody its ‘human capital’ and are the main drivers in it creating value – sustainable value – as a banker-insurer. It is for this reason that the company encourages all of its employees to conduct themselves in a responsive, respectful, and results-driven manner at all times. In short, this encapsulates what KBC AM is all about: operating in a way that sets the tone for the industry whilst pioneering new technologies such as AI to enhance the experience investors receive. Recognised as the Best Sustainable Asset Manager 2025 – Belgium and celebrated with our Client Service Excellence Award 2025 as a result, it is clear that KBC Asset Management is something truly unique in this space. More on its work can be found at the link below. Contact: Jan Standaert Company: KBC Asset Management Web Address: https://www.kbc.com/en.html KBC is a well-known name across Europe, with the KBC Group specialised in banking and insurance and serving approximately 13 million clients throughout Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The primary focus of this article is on KBC Asset Management NV (KBC AM), which is the Group’s investment arm, and its work with retail and institutional investors alike. On the back of its recognition with two awards in this programme, we caught up with Frank Van de Vel, Chief Investor Support Officer. D KBC Asset Management
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