SBI Securities has announced the acquisition of Book Field Capital in a move to consolidate the foundation for its plan to develop in-house structured products, as opposed to its current model of warehousing and redistributing products from other financial institutions.
“With the acquisition of Book Field Capital, the process of internal manufacturing of structured products can be much facilitated with the professionals and technical know-how that came with the acquired firm,” said a spokesperson at SBI Securities. “They will provide support in different aspects, such as setting up the pricing model and risk management system.”
The move to internal product structuring was motivated by a desire to provide more competitive products. “As an initial stage, we are looking into structuring in-house products linked to domestic shares that we are already distributing,” said the spokesperson. The internally structured products will be distributed once the corresponding preparation is completed.
SBI Securities ranked fourth in issuance and 18th in volume for distribution of structured products in the Japanese retail market among 56 providers in 2014, according to SRP data. It was the first and the only distributor to have introduced JPX Nikkei 400-linked and Nikkei 225 Leveraged Index ETF-linked notes to the retail market, which both debuted in December 2014. In 2015, SBI’s derivatives counterparties have included Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and HSBC Bank.
Book Field Capital is a Japanese family office offering advisory services on gatekeeper, investment management and mergers & acquisition. It became a subsidiary of SBI Securities on April 1, 2015.
Related stories:
QE-inspired rollover revives PRDC interest in Japan
Potential losses to be reduced under tax reform in Japan, says Daiwa
Natixis joins uridashi market with Nikkei-linked play