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Deutsche Börse intends to combine its existing data & analytics subsidiaries Qontigo and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) under one roof, after the takeover of investment manager SimCorp A/S is completed. Upon completion of the SimCorp A/S acquisition announced today, the three subsidiaries will be grouped within a newly created investment management solutions segment - this includes the option of a potential IPO for the combined ISS/Qontigo business in the medium term.
Qontigo is one of the main providers of indices to the structured products market. According to SRP data, there are 193,168 live products linked to Qontigo’s Eurostoxx 50 flagship index with an estimated outstanding volume of US$128 billion. The outstanding volume for the Eurostoxx Banks index stands at US$7.9 billion across 16,735 products.
Trading of the ETNs will be suspended before the market opens on 8 June 2023
Credit Suisse’s investment bank reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of US$337m in Q1 23, despite gains of US$257m on its increased buyback principally in the structured notes portfolio.
The portfolio comprised of equity and fixed income structured products saw its value reduced as prices reflected ‘significantly wider own credit spreads', according to the Q1 23 earnings report.
'Equities sales & trading revenues of US$457m declined 36% year-on-year (YoY) vs. a strong Q1 22, driven by lower revenues in equity derivatives (EQD) and cash equities,' stated the report.
From January to March, CS issued 798 structured products across 10 markets, led by Switzerland, Hong Kong SAR, the US and Taiwan, according to SRP data. The issuance was a plunge from 3,647 seen in Q1 22 when the Swiss bank marketed 1,449 listed structured products alone in Hong Kong SAR, followed by Taiwan (1,100 products).
Barclays Bank is calling nearly half of its US-listed exchange-traded notes (ETNs) a month after revealing that its 2022 performance was ‘marred by the over-issuance of securities in the US’.
Barclays said it will redeem 21 of about 50 ETNs of its iPath ETN range on 14 June with investors receiving a cash payment per ETN ‘equal to the applicable closing indicative value or daily redemption value of the ETNs on 7 June 2023, the fifth trading day prior to the Redemption Date (subject to postponement in the event of a market disruption event).’
Trading of the ETNs will be suspended before the market opens on 8 June 2023. The majority of the notes set to be redeemed are derivatives-based and track commodities.
Morningstar Indexes head of Europe Tobias Sproehnle has left the business 18 months after he joined following the acquisition of Moorgate Benchmarks. Sproehnle was CEO of Moorgate Benchmarks until Morningstar Indexes acquired the firm for an undisclosed fee in September 2021.
He launched the business in 2018 alongside Gareth Parker, who also joined Morningstar as chief indexing officer. Following the acquisition, Sproehnle was appointed head of Europe, reporting to Ron Bundy, Morningstar’s president.
Stephen Czick, managing director at iCapital’s Axio has been appointed head of key accounts & issuer relation for SI distribution at iCapital. Czick was responsible for Axio’s product strategy & issuer relations teams, working with issuers, networks and advisors on ways to keep growing the SP market.
The issuance amount of derivative-linked bonds (DLBs) has rebounded in South Korea in Q1 23 as new custom underlyings from SG and Nomura were introduced.
There were 346 DLBs issued with a total sales volume of KRW4.1 trillion (US$3.1 billion) in Q1 23, up 168.5% year-on-year (YoY). It also represented a peak on a quarterly basis except in Q4 22 when the volume surged to KRW7.0 trillion, according to the latest report from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).
In the meantime, there was KRW1.1 trillion collected from 99 DLS, up 11.6% YoY, but still at a distance from the level seen prior to the equity market plunge in 2022. In 2021, the averaged quarterly sales of DLS came to KRW1.4 trillion.
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