Latest: Leonteq settles legacy litigation on commissions

Leonteq has reached a settlement in relation to previously disclosed civil proceedings brought in the English Commercial Court by Utmost International Isle of Man Limited and Utmost Paneurope dac.

The legacy case originally put forward in 2018 by Old Mutual International group companies which were since acquired by Utmost, primarily related to alleged events in the period 2012 to 2016.

The ongoing legal proceedings will be dismissed subject to court approval

The legal action relates to the making of false statements by Leonteq as to levels of commission paid to advisers on Leonteq structured products. Old Mutual International stated at the time that the products would have not passed the firm’s criteria ‘had the true level of commission been disclosed’ and took legal action against Leonteq in order to seek redress on the investments made in these products which suffered significant financial losses.

According to the Leonteq ad hoc announcement on 27 December the ongoing legal proceedings will be dismissed subject to court approval.

The Swiss firm made the headlines in Q4 2022 after refuting the claims made in an FT article of potential tax evasion and money laundering by third parties concerning two Leonteq issued products distributed by a company based in the British Virgin Islands.

The Swiss firm led by Lukas Ruflin (pictured) has also lowered its profit expectations for this year to CHF 155.7 million due to a drop in customer demand in the second half of 2022 on the back of an overall challenging market environment despite stable monthly net fee income over the same period.

Leonteq will continue ‘to maintain a prudent approach to risk management with its net trading result compensating for subdued client activity, particularly in the third quarter of 2022’.

Halo partners with insurance agency in RIA push

US multi-dealer platform Halo Investing has announced a partnership with Ladder, a digital life insurance agency which will enable the firm’s advisors to access the platform’s life insurance module.

Ladder is seeking to modernise how life insurance is purchased in the post-Covid-19 world and deliver ‘protective investment solutions to individual investors through RIAs’. Halo and Ladder believe that meeting advisors where they are with tailored products is paramount.

“Halo recognizes the importance and value that all types of protective solutions bring to an advisor's practice. Ladder is uniquely designed to complement turnkey life insurance,”

‘The ability to scale and customise solutions to a client's needs based on where they are in life — before or during retirement — is critical,’ said Jason Barsema (right), president of Halo Investing. ‘This is another step toward [our] commitment to provide comprehensive protective solutions to the RIA marketplace.

According to Ladder, today, 106 million Americans are underinsured or uninsured, despite six in 10 saying that Covid 19 has heightened their awareness about the value life insurance provides.

‘Many Americans think it’s too expensive, have other financial priorities, or are unsure about what kind of or how much coverage they need. Ladder seeks to change that,’ stated the firm.

FIA launches ETD Tracker

FIA has released its FIA ETD Tracker, a new tool on its website that provides insights on trends in the trading of futures and options on exchanges worldwide.

The ETD Tracker consists of interactive visualisations that allow users to view monthly data on volume and open interest. The visualisations include filters based on data, region and jurisdiction as well as asset group and type of product, which allows users to focus on particular segments of the global exchange-traded derivatives markets.

‘This new tool will allow users to track trends in the trading of futures and options worldwide and filter the data down to specific regions and asset classes and even specific exchanges,’ said Walt Lukken (right), FIA's president and chief executive officer.

The visualisations are powered by FIA Tech, a provider of operational and technology solutions for the exchange-traded derivatives industry.

The ETD Tracker is based on data collected from approximately 80 exchanges around the world. The data are collected on a monthly basis. Volume is measured by the number of contracts traded each month. Open interest is measured as the number of contracts outstanding at the end of the month.

The ETD Tracker is the fourth in a series of data services offered by FIA which includes the FCM Tracker, the SEF Tracker and the CCP Tracker.

In 2021 FIA sold a majority stake in the company to a consortium of 10 clearing firms including ABN AMRO Clearing, Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Wells Fargo.

Nomura targets Dubai investors

Nomura has opened a branch of Nomura Singapore Limited at the Dubai International Financial Centre, United Arab Emirates, to expand the scope of its International Wealth Management business in the Middle East.

The Japanese bank has received in-principle approvals from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to establish its wealth management relationship center in the Middle East and commence operations on receipt of the DFSA license.

‘We hope to bring our leading institutional product suite including structured solutions to meet the sophisticated needs of entrepreneurs and ultra-high-net-worth clients in the Middle East,’ said Rig Karkhanis (right), deputy head of global markets and head of global markets, Asia ex-Japan.

The launch marks the division's latest expansion to broaden its coverage of ultra-high-net-worth clients in its target markets of Greater China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the global Non-Resident Indians segment, all currently served by about 90 private bankers based in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Since Nomura's ex-Japan wealth management business was repositioned as International Wealth Management in Q4 2020, the division has reported a record 1,000 new client accounts and more than US$5.5 billion in net new money.

EQM Indexes rolls out ‘focused opportunities’ index

Index development firm EQM Indexes has teamed up with Missouri-based Pinnacle Dynamic Funds to launch the EQM Pinnacle Focused Opportunities Index (FCUSIDX).

The index will maintain full focused equity participation during normal market conditions based on Pinnacle’s proprietary stock selection model which identifies the top 30 equity selections monthly from the universe of ranked stocks by scoring a combination of three factors – momentum, relative strength, and positive earnings revision.

During higher risk market conditions, the index will participate and protect by diversifying its exposure to be positioned either in 75% stocks and 25% US Treasury Bond ETFs or 50% stocks and 50% Treasury Bond ETFs, depending if one or both of Pinnacle’s market risk algorithms is negative.

The EQM Pinnacle Focused Opportunities Index employs a concentrated, rules-based process in an attempt to deliver replicable, risk managed, equity index outperformance over time.

Top index constituents include First Solar, Constellation Energy, Signify Health, Enphase Energy, and Nutanix (as of Dec. 1, 2022).