The future of active wealth management

Index investing has transformed asset management. Costs are falling, algorithms are taking on more of the work, and competition for clients is intense. So what is the case for active wealth management today?

TreeTop Asset Management manages €1.7 billion and aims to reach €6 billion by 2030. Its strategy includes a move towards programmable quantitative strategies, a significant shift from the index-investing philosophy of its founder, Jacques Berghmans.

What can active management offer that the broad market cannot? How can a smaller firm compete with global players? And as technology takes over more portfolio management, what is the role of the private banker?

These questions come at a moment of change for TreeTop itself. Louis joined the firm his father founded in 2024 and now leads it alongside his brother Félix and an external CEO, while Jacques remains chairman and a member of the investment committee. The challenge is to build a different future for the firm while the person who built it is still helping shape its present.

In conversation with Serge Mampaey of De Tijd, Louis Berghmans explores where active wealth management can still create value, and what it takes to build that future.