Latest: Luma adds US brokerage and clearing firm

Luma Financial Technologies has announced the addition of R.J. O’Brien (Mena) Capital Limited (RJO Mena) to its multi-issuer structured products and annuities platform.

RJO Mena is an affiliate of R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO), the oldest independent futures brokerage and clearing firm in the US.

By connecting to the Luma platform, RJO Mena will be able to create, order and manage bespoke structured product strategies, with a high degree of efficiency for its clients across its international network, according to David Wood (pictured), managing director of Luma’s International Business.

‘Luma’s platform not only enables us to access a wide array of issuers, it also allows us test ideas and create products quickly and without the friction typically associated with that process,’ said Kunal Savjani, senior executive officer of RJO Mena.

The agreement will initially cover UAE but will then be extended across RJO Mena’s offices in London and Paris to cover the rest of Emea.

Leonteq launch Shari’a compliant certificates

Leonteq has expanded its product offering with the launch of Shari’a compliant trust certificates. The launch follows the opening of its office in Dubai in 2021 and is part of Leonteq’s long-term growth strategy and ambition to service the broader Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market.

The trust certificates are issued by IBDAA Certificate Issuer, a standalone special purpose vehicle company, under the Shari’a compliant trust certificate issuance and offering programme with Leonteq Securities acting as lead manager. The certificates are designed to produce financial returns analogous to those of traditional structured investment products.

Leonteq Securities has appointed Amanie Advisors to advise regarding the Shari’a compliance of the programme. The Shari’a Supervisory Board of Amanie, consisting of four Islamic scholars, has opined that the programme follows the requirements of the Shari’a principles. LME metals and other commodities required to enter into Shari’a compliant transactions are supplied by DD&Co through the automated platform Ethos AFP by the DDCAP Group, a market intermediary and financial technology solutions provider connecting the global Islamic financial market.

Under the Programme, Leonteq’s platform allows investors to benefit from a short time-to-market, a competitive minimum subscription size and access to a large array of asset classes, currencies and payoffs, including yield enhancement, capital protection, participation, warrants and FX payoffs.

Alessandro Ricci (right), head of investment solutions and member of the executive committee at Leonteq, stated: ‘Today we take an important step in building our capabilities in Islamic finance to better serve our growing franchise in the Middle East.’

Spectrum Markets trading volumes grow 96% YoY

Spectrum Markets traded 357 million securitised derivatives in the second quarter of 2022, compared to 182 million in Q2 2021 – an increase of 96% year-on-year.

Turnover, at €879m, increased by 250% on the previous year while retail investors continue to opt for out-of-hour trading.

During Q2 2022, 40.2% of individual trades took place outside of traditional hours (between 17:30 and 9:00 CET). 88.6% of securitised derivatives traded were on indices, 4.8% on commodities, 5.4% on currency pairs, one percent on equities and 0.2% on cryptocurrencies, with the most traded underlyings being S&P 500 (25.7%), Dax 40 (24.7%) and Nasdaq 100 (15.2%).

In April, Spectrum added cryptocurrencies as an asset class, with turbo warrants on Bitcoin and Ethereum now available.

Spectrum also welcomed Equita, one of Italy’s largest independent investment banks, as a direct Member of the exchange, bringing a new source of trading volume to the venue.

‘Spectrum is still growing in volume as we continue to introduce new innovations, all against a backdrop of a wider downturn in trading triggered by economic uncertainty,’ stated CEO Nicky Maan (right), commenting on the second quarter results. ‘I’m particularly pleased to see European retail investors clearly remaining very active during out-of-hours trading, underlining our confidence that this growing trend will persist.’

Mediobanca and iCapital in tech collaboration

Mediobanca Private Banking and iCapital  have announced the launch of a collaboration aimed at further enriching the investment offer in private markets for high-net-worth clients.

The partnership allows Mediobanca's Private division to leverage the technology and solutions offered by iCapital to guarantee its customers access to a wide range of investment initiatives in private markets, from private equity to private debt, up to arrive at investments in the real economy and to strengthen operational efficiency in the entire investment process in these sectors.

iCapital's technology and solutions digitise and automate the entire investment lifecycle in the private market, reducing the operational challenges and the manual and paper transaction processes that consultants and their clients have historically faced when investing in this asset class.

'We want to ensure that our clients have ever greater access to investment opportunities in private Markets […] an approach of strategic importance in the current scenario in which the economy is increasingly focused on private markets,' said Angelo Viganò (right), head of Mediobanca Private Banking.

CSRC approves trading of CSI 1000 futures and options

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) today (18 July) announced its approval of the CSI 1000 index futures and options to be traded on the China Financial Futures Exchange, which will start on Friday (22 July) and mark the fifth listing of index derivative products in the country.  

‘In recent years, China’s stock market has been steadily expanding, and investors' demand for risk management has increased accordingly,’ said the financial regulator, adding that the listing of CSI 1000 stock index futures and options is ‘an important move’, which will help further meet investors' hedging needs. There’re currently four index derivative products listed on the exchange – CSI 300 futures and options, CSI 500 futures and SSE 50 futures. SRP registers 1,361 live structured products linked to the three indices across China, South Korea, Germany, Austria and France.  

Launched on 17 October 2014, the CSI 1000 covers of 1,000 small and liquid A-Share stocks excluding the constituents of the CSI 800 Index. Rebalanced on a semi-annual basis, it aims to reflect the overall performance of small cap A-shares. As of today, the index has posted a return of -2.65% for one month, -9.93% for three months and 13.19% year-to-date.

DelphX completes first CPO and CRN Issuance

DelphX Capital Markets has issued its first proprietary collateralised put options (CPOs) and collateralised reference notes (CRNs).

The launch marks the first institutional issue of this new class of structured products. The inaugural transactions were completed in conjunction with custodian BNY Mellon, placement agent LPS Capital, and two institutional investor accounts.

The company relied on significant industry interaction and feedback during the lengthy development process, creating widespread awareness within the fixed-income community prior to launch. This set of transactions will now enable DelphX to pursue a full product roll out via bond dealers while it also anticipates strong interest from financial entities who cannot or will not utilize credit default swaps (CDS) or similar derivatives due to their investment mandates but are able to use DelphX CPO and CRN products.

‘I would like to thank everyone who helped us bring to market what we believe are some of the most exciting new structured products in more than a decade,’ said DelphX CEO Patrick Wood (right). ‘Credit Default Swaps have been in the news a lot lately with world affairs forcing high profile segments of that market into disarray, so, our timing in offering a better alternative to these necessary but historically flawed CDS financial instruments could not be better.’

The DelphX CPO/CRN products are structured as private placement securities, making them acceptable for use by managers who cannot, or will not, utilise traditional derivatives or swaps.

Symetra enhances registered index-linked annuities suite

Symetra Life Insurance Company has announced new enhancements to its suite of registered index-linked annuities (Rilas).

The company has added five new optional indexed account choices to Symetra Trek Plus, with a 10% buffer, one-year term, and one percent charge.

Symetra also enhanced the return lock feature with an automatic option. Return lock allows Symetra Rila contract holders to lock in the value of any indexed account in which they have allocated money, any day during the interest term, effective the next business day. Auto return lock enables a customer or their financial professional to set a target return percentage to automatically initiate a Return Lock.

The addition of the new accounts and the Auto Return Lock continues Symetra’s commitment to offer registered representatives and their clients transparent, flexible options that are designed to add value and fit customer needs in today’s marketplace, according to Kevin Rabin (right), senior vice president, retirement products, Symetra. ‘We believe these enhancements offer efficient, customer-friendly solutions in volatile times,’ he said.

Symetra Rilas are single-premium deferred annuities with index-linked interest options providing growth potential and some downside protection.