VLK’s efforts to educate client advisors on the role structured products in client portfolios is paying off.
2025 was a good year for Van Lanschot Kempen’s (VLK) structured products proposition, both in number of products issued and in volumes.
The last couple of years we have been working hard to get a clear story line on structured products - Marcel Pronk
The independent wealth manager collected an estimated €225m (US$262m) from 195 products during the year, compared to around 100 products that sold €90m in 2024.
At the same time, the SRP Netherlands database registered approximately 60 VLK-issued products that expired early in 2025, generating an average annualised return of 6.3% pa.
“The last couple of years we have been working hard to get a clear story line on structured products,” Marcel Pronk (pictured), director treasury sales, structured products & FX at VLK told SRP.
A lot of efforts were made to educate client advisors on the different roles structured products can play in client portfolios.
“We now clearly start to see the benefits of this story line with structured products being used by more client advisors […] especially in the capital protected space we see an increase in adoption as these products can be a good alternative for corporate bonds in times of low or decreasing bond yields,” Pronk said.
The VLK team at SRP Europe 2026 (left to right): Floris van Iersel, Bob Stroeken, Robbert van Riel and Marcel Pronk.
A good example of the increased take up of capital protection products in client portfolios is the recent launch of the VLK USD Capped Guarantee Note Artificial Intelligence 26-31 – the first time the company has marketed a product based on a specific theme.
Issued on VLK’s own paper, this five-year capped participation bond provides access to an equally weighted basket comprising 14 companies that are active in various segments of the artificial intelligence (AI) value chain whilst benefiting from the growth and application of AI technology.
At maturity, the investor participates 100% in the basket performance, capped at an overall maximum capital return of 175%. The minimum capital return is 90%.
“This product can be used by clients who already have exposure to AI companies and want to lock-in part of the realized return while keeping exposure to the AI theme.
“On the other hand, it can be used by clients who have excess liquidity and are looking for an opportunity to realize a potential higher return on these liquidities compared to cash, money markets funds and corporate bonds,” said Pronk, who expects demand for structured products in the Dutch market to remain strong for the coming year.
“Recently a few players who have been less active for a while have returned to the market […] this shows that structured products have a role to play in investment portfolios,” he said.
After the successful launch of the AI note, VLK’s structured products desk is actively looking for other thematics that could be suitable for capital protected products.
“We are currently investigating potential theme's together with our internal research team,” said Pronk who’s hoping to communicate the launch of a new product on one of these themes soon.
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