Investment plans and stock market transactions continue their remarkable success in the first half of 2022

The number of investors continues to increase

Digital applications in KBC/CBC Mobile help overcome the investment barrier. Spread entry with small amounts makes investing more and more accessible. A good example is ‘spare change investing’, where payments are rounded up to the next euro and automatically invested in an investment plan.

The number of customers starting to invest via a classic investment plan also continues to rise.

• Both the number of customers investing their spare change and those with a traditional investment plan (investing from as little as 25 euros a month) continue to rise.
• Investors who discovered the possibilities of KBC Mobile to manage and view their investments more intensively during the Covid-19 period have continued to do so.
  • Within a global approach to their assets, more affluent Premium Banking customers can now benefit from a new real estate service. This service aims to make their life easier as regards their movable and immovable assets across generations. The service helps them with their real estate management at key moments: from acquisition through management, transfer and inheritance of properties. KBC Premium Banking customers can now request a real-time property estimate in the KBC Mobile property overview. This gives them an immediate estimate of the value of the real estate component (apartments, houses and building plots) in their total assets.
  • Private Banking clients were also offered the new art service. Here too, the service is part of a comprehensive service covering as many assets as possible. The acquisition, preservation, protection and transfer of art are key in this new service.
  •  KBC has a continuous focus on improving and expanding the capabilities of its digital investment processes through KBC Mobile:
    • With ‘spare change investing’, where payments are rounded up to the next euro and automatically invested in an investment plan, the customer can increase the investment effort themselves by automatically doubling or even tripling the round-up amount.
    • When subscribing to pension saving plans through KBC Mobile, the advice is more strongly tailored to the customer by taking into account their personal financial capacity.  
• Diversification across different forms of investment is important given the regularly changing tax environment. As a result, the share of investment insurance policies is increasing. Customers also appreciate KBC insurance solutions that provide peace of mind (e.g., the hospitalisation plan or death insurance).

Steady continued interest in investing: Bolero, Bolero Crowdfunding & Matti

• Despite deteriorating conditions on the stock market due to high inflation and the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, Bolero continues to see a steady influx of new investors. The total number of Bolero customers increased by 10% year-to-date. New customer inflows in the first half of 2022 were some 30% lower than in the first half of 2021, but still 160% higher than pre-Covid-19 levels.
• Nevertheless, interest remains high among young people: one in three new Bolero customers is under 30 and more than half under 40.
• The number of transactions in the first half of 2022 was 25% lower than in the first half of 2021, but still 150% above 2019 (pre-Covid 19) levels. No major selling trend was observed: the vast majority of transactions remain purchases (65% were purchases in the first quarter and almost 70% in May/June relative to sales transactions)
• Matti, Bolero's smart investment assistant, also continues to grow steadily, with the number of Matti investors increasing by 14% year-to-date. Assets under management invested in Matti was up 6.5% on its level at the end of 2021, despite the downturn in global markets.
• Bolero Crowdfunding, KBC's crowdlending platform, raised 2.53 million euros for five companies in the first half of the year. Investors have become slightly more cautious for this type of investment: for example, the average amount invested per investor is slightly lower than in recent years.

Responsible investment funds continue their steep climb

• KBC and CBC see the market movement towards responsible investment funds continue to accelerate. Investors increasingly attach importance to environmental and social criteria when managing their assets. Today, more than half of our Belgian investors choose a fund that invests responsibly and the investment in such funds has tripled in two years. At the end of 2021, this figure stood at 31.7 billion euros.
• For its responsible investment funds, KBC Asset Management (KBC AM) has pursued a strict policy with zero tolerance for fossil fuels for several years now. In these funds, in addition to thermal coal, all other fossil fuels such as oil and gas are excluded, as is nuclear energy. Only renewable and safe energy sources are permitted in the funds that invest responsibly.
• Within conventional investment funds too, KBC is taking steps to mitigate the climate impact. For example, on 1 January 2021, KBC and CBC introduced a strict investment policy for both KBC AM investment funds and our own investment portfolio: mining companies that extract coal* were excluded from all investment funds from that date, as were utilities that use coal to generate electricity.

     * ^{With the exception of coal used for steel production, as there is currently no viable energy alternative available for this production process.}

• Furthermore, on 11 November 2021, KBC and CBC changed the investment policy of Pricos & Pricos Defensive (KBC's pension savings funds). These funds now invest in socially responsible assets only, with zero tolerance for fossil fuels. Here again, KBC and CBC made a conscious choice for the climate, more than ever for the long term.

The savings account nevertheless remained popular in 2022

• The regulated savings account continued to grow in the first half of 2022: at the end of June 2022, savings with KBC and CBC combined amounted to 56.13 billion euros.
• That is an increase of 3.84 billion euros (+ 4.35%) compared to 31 December 2021 and an increase of 3.84 billion euros (+ 7.34%) compared to a year ago.

Total deposits on regulated savings accounts with KBC and CBC in Belgium:
(If you want to compare KBC figures correctly with those of other financial institutions active across Belgium, you need to take into account both the KBC and CBC figures).
Volumes on regulated savings accounts with KBC and CBC combined:
o 30/6/2022: 56.13 billion euros
o 31/12/2021: 53.79 billion euros
o 30/06/2021: 52.29 billion euros

Breakdown by region

Volumes on regulated savings accounts with KBC and KBC Brussels (active in Flanders and Brussels):
o 30/6/2022: 51.16 billion euros
o 31/12/2021: 49.08 billion euros
o 30/06/2021: 47.75 billion euros
Volumes on regulated savings accounts at CBC (active in Wallonia):
o 30/6/2022: 4.97 billion euros
o 31/12/2021: 4.71 billion euros
o 30/06/2021: 4.54 billion euros