The cooperation between Leonteq and DBS on the origination and distribution of equity-linked structured investment products has come to an end just over 12 months after its launch, according to Leonteq's 2015 full-year results. Despite stating that the partnership with DBS contributed 6% to the Swiss company's overall turnover in 2015, the financial impact on its results 'is expected to be non-material compared to the prior year', according to Leonteq.

'Whilst Leonteq regrets that the cooperation with DBS has come to an end', the Swiss company is adamant that its open platform, the core of its business model, 'addresses the specific needs of a broad variety of current and prospective partners'. However, Leonteq will have to adjust its Asian activities, as the cooperation with DBS saw turnover of CHF950m (€853m) in the first half of 2015, from more than 800 DBS products issued through Leonteq's platform. On the back of this agreement, Leonteq reported that its business in Asia picked up in the first half of 2015, with total operating income up by 15%, to CHF10.8m.

The Swiss structured products provider also announced in the results release that the cooperation on the partnership with DBS, Avaloq and Numerix to develop and implement an integrated multi-issuer investment products distribution system (known as the Land initiative) has ceased "due to diverging interests on some business model and exclusivity discussions". Leonteq stated, however, that it will continue to implement buyside automation initiatives on its own and with partners such as Avaloq.

Leonteq is in talks to be included on Contineo's multi-issuer platform, according to sources, although Mark Muñoz, managing director at the platform provider declined to confirm. "Contineo is an open network, meaning we can and would work with investment banks, like Leonteq and other third party providers, if there is an opportunity to support their clients," said Muñoz.

Contineo will be announcing the addition of four new private banks to the platform in the first quarter of 2016, according to Muñoz.

Despite the collapse of the cooperation with DBS and the Land partners, the Swiss company reported strong progress in the expansion of its platform partner network for the origination and distribution of structured products in 2015, with 904 counterparties trading actively on its platform in 2015, compared to 802 in 2014 (up 13%).

Leonteq has now started cooperation with some partners (preannounced during 2015), including Deutsche Bank, which has made its structured products available on Leonteq's platform for distribution in Europe and Switzerland, with ongoing discussions about a possible expansion to Asia; and Bank of Montreal (BMO), which has made its investment products available to Leonteq's platform for distribution in Switzerland and other selected countries in Europe and Asia.

The Swiss firm is seeking to increase the scalability of the platform by leveraging JP Morgan's risk management capabilities as an issuer and will also initiate cooperation with Malayan Banking (Maybank), Raiffeisen Switzerland, Swiss Life and Swiss Mobiliar (all announced during 2015).

Other key developments on Leonteq's routemap include cooperation agreements with Standard Chartered (by capitalising on the UK bank's 'global brand recognition' and support it in different areas of the structured product value chain, including structuring, distribution, documentation, origination, and lifecycle management); as well as with Aargauische Kantonalbank (AKB), a Swiss cantonal bank with total assets of CHF24.3bn, to bring to market products issued by Leonteq and guaranteed by AKB (Standard & Poor's AA+ rating).

According to Leonteq, its technology platform was bolstered in 2015 with new tools in the context of its smart data initiative, including the Equity Screener, the Underlying Optimizer, and Leonteq Trends. Overall activity on the platform significantly increased, with the number of pricings rising by 57% to 1.2 million in 2015, stated the Swiss firm which also announced that David Schmid, chief executive officer for Asia, will lead Leonteq's sales force globally.

The outstanding volume of Leonteq's platform partner products came to CHF4.7bn  as at 31 December 2015, up 21% compared to year-end 2014, while outstanding volume of Leonteq's own products declined by 14% to CHF3.2bn as at year-end 2015. Leonteq's turnover was CHF20.5bn in 2015, versus CHF20.4bn in 2014.

This flat development was mainly due to lower demand for low-margin and high turnover dual currency deposits (DCDs) with platform partners, which at the same time resulted in an overall increase in average margin on turnover to 107 bps (up 9%), according to Leonteq.

'Financial results for 2015 were robust, although somewhat below management expectations,' said Jan Schoch, chief executive officer of Leonteq in the results statement. "Our platform partner strategy has started to pay off well, with the Finteq business being the key driver for our top- and bottom-line growth. We will continue to substantially invest into our partner network in 2016. At the same time, we will drive the business forward with our increased sales force, and new automation tools that will enhance client experience on both the buy- and sellside."

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