BNP Paribas launched its first Klik & Klaar note for retail investors in the Netherlands in March. The note, which was introduced on Euronext Amsterdam, is linked to the Eurostoxx 50 and matures early – paying a coupon of 9% per year elapsed, providing the index is at or above 96.9% of its strike level on the annual observation date.
Klik & Klaar was an ABN Amro invention – the bank launched 29 Klik & Klaar notes between April 2005 and May 2014 – and has also been used by Commerzbank (once in 2006), and now by BNP Paribas. “[Klik & Klaar] is a product suggested by a structured product client where we thought, ‘hold on, this could also be interesting for public distribution’,” said Erik Mauritz, head of exchange-traded solutions sales at BNP Paribas in a recent interview with SRP. “We put it on our website and provide marketing for it. If it becomes a success, then it will become a product line.”
Dutch municipal BNG Bank launched a 10-year, €25m step-up callable note linked to the interest rate for institutional investors worldwide in minimum denominations of €100,000, and paying a fixed coupon of 25bp for the first two years: the coupon increases by 25bp every two years, unless called. UBS is the lead manager and Deutsche Bank the paying agent. “There is demand from the market for a callable variant because the returns on these products are slightly higher,” said Robert Bakker, spokesman for BNG Bank. “We mainly target foreign investors.”
Euronext Amsterdam listed 3,575 new warrants and certificates during March. Of these, 35 leverage certificates, from four different providers (BNP Paribas, Citi, Commerzbank and ING), were linked to the Randstad share. The Dutch recruitment specialist, which declared a dividend of €1.29 per share (up 36% from €0.95 last year), is one of the top performing companies of the AEX index: the Randstad share price closed at 57.4 points on April 7, 2015, up 27% from 41.92 points one year ago.
Other shares popular with the Dutch turbo investors were: Aegon (41), Fugro (39), SBM Offshore (31) and ING (26).
Meanwhile, Van Lanschot reported that it had rolled out medium-term notes worth €424m under its structured note programme during 2014, significantly up from €79m in 2013 and €70m in 2012. In addition, the structured products desk reported a €6m profit in 2014. The structured products sold within the Van Lanschot network are designed and structured by merchant bankers Kempen, a 100% subsidiary of the Dutch private bank. An important growth engine of Kempen Securities is delivering customer solutions to private banking in the shape of structured investments, said Laurent Guntenaar of the structured investment team at Kempen.
BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) appointed Gerard Bergshoeff head of distribution sales for the Netherlands in March. Bergshoeff joins from ABN Amro, where he was global head of sales private banking and retail of the Dutch bank’s markets division. He succeeds Bart Vemer, who left the French fund manager at the end of last year. Bergshoeff will report to Julian Kramer, head of external distribution for Northern Europe at BNPP IP.
Bergshoeff is the second high-profile figure to leave ABN Amro’s markets division in recent months. Earlier this year, Jan Erftemeijer, head of public distribution sales at ABN Amro markets, left for Goldman Sachs, where he is in charge of the US bank’s turbo operation. Goldman took over the issuance of turbos from ABN in the Netherlands in January.
Finally, Theodor Kockelkoren has notified the supervisory board of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) of his intention to leave the regulator on October 15, 2015. Kockelkoren said he wishes to continue his career in the public or private sector after having worked for the AFM for 13 years.
The full Dutch market review for March will be available shortly.
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BNPP IP appoints ABN Amro’s Bergshoeff