The Swiss bank continues to dominate the European structured retail products public offering space, and grew its market share in Switzerland and other international target markets
In 2018, Vontobel Financial Products continued to leverage the strengths of its Deritrade platform to consolidate and expand its market share in Switzerland and internationally in a weak market environment.
The bank was the only issuer increasing its market share in Switzerland by 15.9% from 45.03% to 52% compared to UBS (down by 36%) and Leonteq (down by 26.4%), as well as in Europe where it stood at 27.2% (from 12.5% to 15.9%), at the end of 2018, on the back of over 200,000 products marketed worth an estimated CHF15.71 billion ($15.59 billion).
The Swiss bank stated in its 2018 results report that its market share measured in terms of exchange-traded volumes stood at 13.1% in Europe and 28.4% in its home market.
Overall, structured products ‘achieved a satisfactory turnover in a weaker environment, in which the fourth quarter was characterized by especially low volumes as a result of the general mood of caution among investors,’ stated the bank.
Vontobel’s structured products business leveraged its performance on a number of developments including the launch of an app allowing private investors to select a structured product tailored to their individual preferences and have it issued immediately via their smartphone, introduced in Germany following its launch in Switzerland.
The bank also highlighted its new Pension Investments platform to digitalise the Swiss market for pension products which enables relationship managers from more than 70 banks and 550 external asset managers to offer their clients pension solutions and banking services from a single source.
Vontobel’s private banking capabilities were bolstered after the acquisition of Notenstein La Roche in July 2018 for a consideration of CHF658m while its ‘white label’ offering was also boosted by the addition of Basler Kantonalbank. The bank’s structured products advisory and distribution senior team was also reshuffled with its head of financial products advisory and distribution Georg von Wattenwyl taking charge of external asset managers business in Asia and family offices globally.
The bank plans to consolidate its market position in the European structured retail products market through new initiatives such as the launch of a custody and execution solution for digital assets since the start of the year, and its market debut with leverage products in Denmark.
In addition, the structured warrants offering in Hong Kong, the world’s largest market for derivatives, has been continuously expanded following the appointment of Long Lee as head of financial products, Asia, in early 2018.
Despite the difficult market environment, Vontobel structured products business generated pre-tax profit of CHF63.1m. The bank’s overall net profit stood at CHF232.2m, which exceeded the previous year’s result by 11%. Vontobel’s wealth management business reported that net new asset growth totaled CHF3.3 billion, and resulted in CHF67.2 billion of advised client assets in combined wealth management.
‘As a result of the acquisitions we have made in the past, we now have an even broader basis for growth – especially in our strong home market of Switzerland,’ said Vontobel chief executive Zeno Staub. ‘In addition, we will use the power of digitalization to deliver an even better client experience and to thus generate additional growth momentum.’