Q&A with Leonteq's co-head of sales structured solutions Germany & Austria

Björn Geidel (pictured) joined Leonteq in July as co-head of sales structured solutions Germany/Austria in Frankfurt. Together with Daniel Jehl, Geidel will lead the company's sales team, reporting to Alessandro Ricci, head of sales for Europe. Geidel joined the Swiss bank from Morgan Stanley, where he had been head of retail structured products Germany/Austria since May 2015.

SRP caught up with Geidel and asked him about Leonteq's plans for the region, the company's certificates business and the challenges ahead.

What are Leonteq's plans for certificates issuance in Germany and Austria?
Our prime focus is the distribution of structured investment products issued by third parties through our platform. Specifically, Deutsche Bank is a very well-known issuer with a public offering in our region, which will enable us to approach advisory clients via private, savings- and cooperative banks in addition to the well-established segment of independent asset managers in Germany and Austria. Therefore, we have increased our sales force to increase coverage of those new client types.

Are you planning to shift the certificates business from distributing your own products to a multi-issuer environment, like the one in Switzerland?
The majority of certificates in 2016 was generated through the distribution of our platform partner's products rather than our own. As of today, we are offering products from Deutsche, Notenstein La Roche, EFG International and Bank of Montreal on our platform. This enables our clients to diversify issuer risk within their portfolios.

Will Leonteq offer new structures in the primary market?
Client demand is based on well-known and transparent structures, such as discount and bonus certificates, (barrier) reverse convertibles and autocallables, as well as structured rates products. In this context, we are facilitating the demand, but also optimising the product solutions in terms of the risk-return profile.

What are the biggest chances and challenges you see in Germany and Austria?
Generally, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) II will be a challenge for all issuers in the industry. We see good opportunities in the support of our distribution partners in their daily business with Constructor, our pricing tool. After the successful roll-out in Germany, we received positive feedback from our customers, specifically around the unique features we offer on the platform.

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