Frank Weingarts (pictured) was elected as the new chairman of the board of Zertifikate Forum Austria (ZFA), the Austrian certificate association in April. He had been a board member since it was founded in 2006.
In a short Q&A, Weingarts, whose day job is as head of private investor products Austria in Unicredit's onemarkets team, tells SRP about the trade body’s achievements in both the Austrian market and at a European level, and the challenges it is still facing.
How has the ZFA changed since it was first launched in 2006?
Weingarts: The ZFA is now a well-recognised and established ambassador for structured products in Austria and across Europe. We have increased the awareness that structured products are essential to optimise investment portfolios for each client type – underpinned through studies established with universities. Recently our work has shifted towards regulatory issues, especially Mifid 2 and Priips.
What would you consider as your main achievement since you have been with the association?
Weingarts: The Austrian market shows a high degree of investment ratio of structured products compared to other countries. Overall, the total outstanding volume reached €14.5 billion in July, not far away from its high €14.9 billion in 2010.
ZFA is well connected in Europe. In 2009, we were a founding member of the European umbrella association Eusipa. Heike Arbter, my predecessor at ZFA, was appointed president of Eusipa in 2016.
We are an established association, also because of well-attended events like our annual Zertifikatekongress & Award combined with our regional roadshows which we organise together with the Vienna Stock Exchange.
How big was the impact of the implementation of the European Mifid/Priips regulations on your members?
Weingarts: The implementation was costly and time consuming. The key success was automation/digitisation to ensure a proper set-up. ZFA plays an active role in convincing regulators – also through Eusipa on a European level – to simplify the Priip/Key information document (Kid) for investors and to align cost disclosure requirements of Mifid and Priip.
What are your plans in the long term with the association, and what are the main challenges you are facing?
Weingarts: Our ongoing mission is to raise and sharpen awareness of retail and professional investors to invest in structured products for improving the risk-return profile of their portfolios.
We also focus on financial literacy, not just for professionals, like financial advisors, but for laypersons such as non-professionals and early starters, like pupils and students, too.