Report of the Management Board

BinckBank and the credit crunch

After almost two years of the credit crisis and many bank failures, BinckBank has continued to prosper. BinckBank has never invested in toxic bonds (a generic term for bonds secured on doubtful collateral, such as sub-prime mortgages), does not need to take impairments on the investment portfolio and does not require refinancing. The credit crisis is having little effect on BinckBank's conservatively invested portfolio or its solvency.

Unfortunately, the ravages wrought by the credit crunch on the financial markets will affect BinckBank indirectly, through no fault of its own. The crisis, for example, had repercussions for the interest rate structure on the money market and investor sentiment on the stock exchanges. But the credit crunch also created opportunities: 2008 brought explosive growth in the number of BinckBank's brokerage clients, who saw opportunities in the historically low prices. With governments and regulators working together to find solutions to the current financial problems, we are hopeful that the markets will stabilise again.