Contineo plugs-in Natixis as an issuer, adds four to buyside

Hong Kong-based multi-issuer platform for structured products Contineo has added JP Morgan Private Bank and BSI as buy-side subscribers to its messaging network, and Natixis as a new issuer. SRP understands that the platform is also in talks with two other global private banks, HSBC and BNP Paribas, which are considering trialing the network's buy-side facilities. Current network participants include Julius Baer, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Societe Generale.

Contineo adds transparency to the structured products market, and Natixis is a strong supporter of more transparency, according to Nicolas Reille (pictured), head of sales, equity derivatives, Asia Pacific at Natixis. "We believe the higher the transparency, the better for investors, distributors and products providers," said Reille. "In particular, a more transparent market will help to further diversify the range of structured products commonly traded by investors, improving the returns of their structured products portfolios in different market conditions, leading to a growing share of structured products in investors' portfolios."

Contineo has four of Asia's top ten private banks and six of the top 20 as subscribers, as measured by assets under management (AUM), according to Mark Muñoz, managing director at Contineo. "We're in a really strong position now with four of the top ten private banks in Asia using Contineo and we're seeing good flow and user traction on the network, said Muñoz. "Contineo I/O - the data analytics service announced last year is well into development [and] we are now starting to feed back some key metrics to our users."

The platform has been live since June last year and is already seeing a significant flow in RFQs and orders, according to Muñoz. "The feedback from traders is very positive and the firm continues to make enhancements to its offering," said Muñoz. "We have some very exciting features we will announce soon that will make the entire lifecycle much more efficient for our subscribers. As we expand the network with new buy side and sell side firms we will continue to develop a more efficient and transparent workflow for RMs, traders and back-office teams."

Muñoz stressed that in just seven months the firm had made "enormous strides". "We went live just seven months ago and have had an enthusiastic response to our offering and now we see usage growing month over month with our new subscribers," he said. "The business is growing rapidly and we are very pleased with its development alongside all our partners."

Contineo acts as a communications hub for products including equity linked notes; knock-out equity linked notes; accumulator; decumulator; fixed coupon notes; DRAN and OTC options. The network also offers bespoke data streams and products based on the information generated by the increasing volume on the platform.

The platform which is backed by a consortium of banks including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Barclays, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, and technology firm AG Delta, was launched in January 2015 to provide greater access to equity-linked structured products for private banking and wealth management firms.

HSBC declined to comment while BNP Paribas did not return calls requesting comment.

Industry Insights

Data Insights

Webinars

Special Reports

Market

Contineo plugs-in Natixis as an issuer, adds four to buyside