Vontobel has deployed its 'mein-zertifikat.at' platform for investment certificates in Austria enabling the creation of customized certificates and receive product offers from Vontobel and HSBC, in real time.
The platform 'mein-zertifikat.at' is being launched as a multi-issuer platform with an identical set-up to the platform in Germany. Initially, the platform will offer access to four types of products from the two issuers including discount certificates, bonus cap certificates, reverse convertibles and 'protect' reverse convertibles
Roger Studer (pictured), head of Vontobel investment Banking said that following launches in Switzerland and Germany, the rollout in Austria is the next logical step forward in Vontobel's European platform strategy for structured products.
'The goal of that strategy is to systematically expand the range of certificates we offer in Europe,' Studer said. 'We firmly believe that digital offerings will become an integral part of the certificates business in future - both for private and professional investors.'
The platform which is already active in Germany since the summer of 2016, and has been designed for self-directed investors, can also be used by advisors, banks and asset managers in meeting new regulatory requirements that apply in the area of investment advisory including product documentation and reporting.
Vontobel pointed that the certificates markets in Austria and Germany are closely linked, since trading, settlement and data streams essentially have the same structures. 'As a result, Austrian investors can access a large proportion of the more than 1.5 million products in the German market,' it said.
Vontobel has been active in the Austrian structured investment products and leverage products market since 2008. In August 2016, Vontobel launched the 'mein-zertifikat.de' platform which is used by more than 5,600 investment advisors, asset managers and, in particular, private investors, according to the Swiss bank. To date, German investors have transacted more than €85 million of products on the stock markets and have submitted over 15,000 product requests. Products are generally available for trading within a matter of minutes on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange - a cooperation partner of mein-zertifikat.de.
The Swiss bank was the most active European issuer - with 11,874 products in 2017 - and topped the sales volume ranking with €11.2bn volume sold during the course of the year, according to SRP data. Vontobel reported that its financial products business which houses the Deritrade platform had a market share of 25% in its home market and of over 10% in Europe (measured in terms of the exchange-traded volumes). The bank's financial products business has driven the international expansion of the bank's investment and leverage products business with entry debuts in France's Euronext certificates market and the Netherlands in 2017 which was followed by its launch in Hong Kong.
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