Yvan Renaud has been appointed as the new CEO of Symbiotics Group, effective this spring. Over the past two decades, Yvan has held various roles within the company, including Head of Research & Advisory, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and, since 2022, CEO of Symbiotics Investments. He now succeeds Roland Dominicé, who is transitioning to internal board and advisory positions. Roland, who founded Symbiotics in 2005, has been instrumental in leading business development and guiding the executive team since the company’s inception. Together, they will provide continued leadership and governance, ensuring the firm’s ongoing success.
The 2025 year-end results marked an important milestone for Symbiotics, both marking its 20th anniversary and the completion of its five-year strategic plan. This transformation initiative has elevated the company from a specialized impact investment firm in 2020 to a leading market access platform for impact investing, now offering a comprehensive suite of impact investing solutions for institutional investors and asset managers.
- Symbiotics Investments, the group’s core business driver, closed the year with over USD 1 billion in new deal originations. The company now manages an investment portfolio spanning over 250 companies across nearly 75 emerging and frontier markets, supported by its team presence in Bogota, Cape Town, Dakar, Delhi, Erevan, Mexico, Nairobi, and Singapore, in addition to its headquarters in Geneva.
- The structured finance team in London arranged over USD 470 million in impact bonds, basket bonds, and loan repackaging last year. Most of these transactions were placed through its EU brokerage license in Amsterdam, connecting with more than 75 European institutional investors and development banks.
- Symbiotics AM, the group’s asset management arm, regulated in Switzerland, manages a portfolio exceeding USD 2.5 billion. In 2025, despite volatile macroeconomics, most mandates outperformed their peers and benchmarks, reaching many historical highs, particularly those focused on unhedged local currency strategies.
- The EU AIFM team, based in Paris, supports the portfolio managers with a range of product governance, legal, risk and compliance expertise, through two SICAV umbrella platforms and a dozen impact investing funds administered for major private banks, asset managers, and pension funds.
- Meanwhile, the technical assistance team has completed its transition into a fully South African-based consulting services operation. Since its inception, they have delivered over 170 capacity building projects, deploying a cumulative USD 19 million in development aid. In 2025, they secured their first mandate for a multinational corporation.
Symbiotics is well positioned for continued growth as an open-architecture platform serving public and private institutional impact investors. The five-year strategic transformation has resulted in a more streamlined investment value chain, a more agile corporate business model, and enhanced client engagement capabilities. The core business engine, Symbiotics Investments, is supported by a full suite of ancillary offerings for customized institutional investor needs, whether arranger services, brokerage services, asset management, fund solutions, or consulting services. Overall, the company concluded 2025 with financial results above expectations, extending its continued record of positive corporate profitability since inception.
“The past years have presented considerable challenges, with strong headwinds in development finance, rising global uncertainty, increased macroeconomic volatility, and tighter financial markets,” says Yvan Renaud. “Nonetheless, we are confident in our capabilities and market position, as well as in the significant opportunities in emerging and frontier economies, in the growing interest in private markets, and in the resilience of sustainable asset allocations.”
The team of more than 150 colleagues has successfully developed expertise and leadership beyond microfinance and SME banking over the past 5-years, into technology-based business models, climate adaptation and mitigation, agricultural value-chain, as well as more recently into affordable health, housing or education offerings. Innovation has also thrived through new client solutions and product structuring.
In 2025, Symbiotics pioneered innovative financial instruments, such as issuing the first sukuk gender bond in Pakistan and its inaugural agritech impact bond in Ghana. The company has also replicated its green basket bond issuances in partnership with several development finance agencies and, more recently, has repackaged development bank deals into transferable securities placed in private sector capital markets, culminating in a landmark USD 177 million issuance in 2025. Finally, in 2025, the company reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability by securing its second B Corp certification, further enhancing its impact score. It ranked first in Switzerland’s financial sector and placed among the top 10 companies overall.
“I’m delighted to see Yvan succeed me as CEO; his appointment is a well-deserved recognition of his leadership,” adds Roland Dominicé. “I look forward to supporting him and the entire group in a new capacity as a governance member and equity partner. It has been a privilege to lead such an outstanding team, and I am deeply grateful to all our stakeholders for their trust and ongoing commitment.”
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For more information, contact:
Samy Derradji, Symbiotics, Corporate Communication Manager
samy.derradji@symbioticsgroup.com
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About Symbiotics
Symbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing, dedicated to private markets in emerging and frontier economies. The group offers investment, asset management and capacity building services. Since 2005, we have originated over 9,100 investments representing more than USD 11.6 billion for 654 companies in 99 countries. We manage an aggregate portfolio of USD 2.5 billion spread across 19 funds and mandates. Our portfolio companies have also benefited from over 170 technical assistance projects worth more than USD 19 million. symbioticsgroup.com
