Latest: UK, Swiss firms team up to launch ‘iconic art’ AMC

Mintus, the first FCA authorised company to launch and scale art fractionalisation in the UK, is seeking to expand exposure to investors across Europe, the Middle East and Asia with the help of Amergeris Wealth Management, a licensed Swiss investment manager which will structure the investment products for Mintus.  

Mintus launched in Q2 2022 an investment platform, backed with industry leading art and financial expertise, to offer investors a way to buy shares and invest in high-quality, difficult to access, multi-million-pound contemporary artworks.

Art investments provide strong portfolio diversification, inflation hedging attributes and strong capital preservation capabilities - Remko van Ekelen, Amergeris

The company has a pipeline of US$150m of investment quality paintings from artists such as Andy Warhol, George Condo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockney, Pablo Picasso, and René Magritte.

Qualified Investors can buy shares in a fund that owns the individual paintings directly at Mintus or get exposure to a diversified portfolio, made up of all the artwork on the Mintus platform, via the Mintus Art Strategy, an actively managed certificate (AMC) available to wealth managers and financial institutions.   

‘In this challenging inflationary environment, art investments provide strong portfolio diversification, inflation hedging attributes and strong capital preservation capabilities due to its uncorrelated nature to equities,’ said Remko van Ekelen, CEO of Amergeris. ‘Mintus' offering strips out the extra costs and frictions generally associated with investing in art and makes it a very viable alternative asset class for our clients.’  

Tamer Ozmen (pictured), founder and CEO of Mintus said: ‘Fractional ownership of art, enabled through investing in the shares issued by an investment vehicle which in turn owns the art, provides enhanced portfolio diversification and risk-adjusted returns for investors together with the unique opportunity to invest in some of the world's greatest paintings at a fraction of their overall value.’

This is the first of several planned major partnerships with private banks and other wealth managers to provide investors ‘with access to shared ownership of exceptional investment grade art and tapping into the ever-increasing drive for portfolio diversification through alternative assets,’ said Ozmen.

Swiss association keeps growing, adds new buy-side member

The Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA) has expanded its ranks with the addition of Mirabaud as a new buy-side member.

With the admission of the independent asset manager, there are now nine representatives on the SSPA's buy-side (including four buy-side issuers), and the membership base has been expanded to a total of 43 members across the entire value chain, from issuers to trading platforms and buy-side to brokers and partners.

Mirabaud was founded in 1819 and offers wealth management, asset management and corporate finance services. Mirabaud’s highly personalised and premium services combine its long-standing tradition with innovative approaches. Among its 16 offices based in ten countries, in Switzerland, Mirabaud operates out of Geneva, Zurich and Basel.

‘We are looking particularly forward to exchanging views and visions with other experts in the association,’ said Abdel Hamidouche (right), structured products advisor at Mirabaud.

Mirabaud is the latest addition to the SSPA and follows Morgan Stanley which joined the Swiss trade body as a new member in Q1 2022.

The trade body led by chairman Markus Pfister which represents the interests of the key players in the market for structured products in Switzerland and represent over 95% of the country’s market volume now numbers 44 firms across the entire value creation chain, from issuers to trading platforms and buy-side to brokers and partners.

BNPP embeds automation of currency risk management

BNP Paribas has signed the agreement to acquire Kantox, a fintech that has developed a software solution for the automation of currency risk management. The acquisition builds on the initial strategic partnership between BNP Paribas and Kantox initiated in September 2019.

The fintech’s offering has managed to successfully re-bundle the corporate FX workflow, offering a one-stop-shop, API driven, plug-and-play solution which has emerged as a unique technology within the B2B cross-border payments sector - Kantox’s technology provides automation and sophistication to corporates in setting up hedging strategies.

With the acquisition, the French bank is seeking to accelerate and extend the FX offering to a wide range of corporate clients. The acquisition is supported by the Global Markets business of BNP Paribas’ CIB division and the business centres of the commercial, personal and banking services (CPBS) division. The two divisions aim to deploy the technology to large corporate as well as SME and mid-cap clients.

Olivier Osty (right), head of global markets, BNP Paribas CIB, said: ‘Corporate treasurers are currently navigating turbulent markets and advanced technology can help mitigate some of the challenges, easing the burden of manual tasks and allowing them to focus on their core business.’

HSBC doubles down on China private banking expansion

HSBC Global Private Banking has officially expanded its private banking business to the cities of Chengdu and Hangzhou, further extending its presence in mainland China which also includes Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The launch follows the bank’s announcement of its business expansion strategy centred on enhancing local service capabilities in the first half of 2022.

With the expanded footprint, HSBC has become the first international bank to set up a dedicated private banking service team in Western China. At the same time, HSBC China is actively exploring the potential of the Southwest market, with strengthened service capabilities in the Yangtze River Delta region to provide more in-depth services to its growing high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients.

HSBC China is the first international bank in mainland China to enable wealth and investment services via mobile banking app for private banking clients. The UK bank is also one of the first to facilitate commodity futures and options on five exchanges in China for qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) on the back of relaxed rules which will enable offshore investors to invest in structured products tied to the approved commodity underliers.

‘We see huge growth potential for the wealth management market in mainland China, driven both by the economically active coastal areas and the fast-developing inland areas, which are fundamental to the long-term development of our wealth business,’ said Jackie Mau, head of global private banking, HSBC China.

‘As a new class of HNW and UHNW individuals emerges from the vigorous development of Hangzhou's digital economy, demand for international wealth management has grown significantly.’

Going forward, HSBC Global Private Banking will seek to unlock synergies with HSBC China’s wholesale banking business, and join forces with other related businesses within the HSBC Group in mainland China, including securities, funds, insurance and financial technology, to meet the holistic long term financial needs of individuals, their families and businesses.

Iosco seeks clarity on index providers, asset managers interaction

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (Iosco) has launched a survey to shed light on the interaction between index providers and asset managers.

This survey is seeking to bring clarity to the nature of the interaction between these parties. The questionnaire is intended to support the work of the regulator’s Committee 5, a work group on investment management, by increasing its understanding of certain conduct-related index provider matters.

The regulator has identified potential areas that require further analysis including the role of asset managers in relation to indices and index providers and the role and processes of index providers in the provision of indices, the potential impact of administrative errors on investment funds and potential conflicts of interest that may exist at the relation to the fund.

The survey applies to exchange-traded funds (ETFs), structured funds and funds of structured products.

The poll also seeks information from respondents on their governance and processes during exceptional market events or shocks. Those events include market wide disruptions outside of the control of the relevant index provider / asset manager such as the Covid-19 market shock (2020) and the Russian market shock (2022).

Deadline for responses is 26 November 2022.

Click in the link to download the survey.