In this week’s roundup, we also look at structured warrants listed on the SGX recording a rise in total turnover last month, while Bloomberg is expanding its thematic equities indices suite.
Swiss boutique CAT Financial Products (CATFP) has listed its first exchange-traded product (ETP) on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
ETPs play an important role in our business strategy... to give private investors access to new markets, professional strategies and future themes and make them tradable - Roman Przibylla, CAT
CATFP is entering the listed products segment after receiving authorisation from FINMA to operate as a securities firm tapping into a new target group consisting of self-directed private investors.
‘ETPs play an important role in our business strategy. The goal is to give private investors access to new markets, professional strategies and future themes and to make them tradable," Roman Przibylla (pictured), head public solutions.
CATFP's ETPs are issued using SIX's Triparty Collateral Management (TCM) collateralisation solution which reduces the issuer's default risk. The pledged collateral is held in custody at SIX SIS Ltd and SIX Repo Ltd, as collateral agent; it is responsible for the daily monitoring of the collateral.
‘Issuer risk plays a decisive role for many investors when choosing the right investment product,’ said David Schmid, co-CEO and head markets. ‘TCM collateralisation significantly minimises this default risk and provides additional protection in times of economic and geopolitical uncertainty.’
The new ETP tracks the performance of the Obermatt Swiss Pearls Index which is an index developed by the Obermatt Institute, a non-profit organization based in Zurich. The index is made up of 36 of the top-ranking stocks that provide a well-diversified and representative selection of quality stocks on the Swiss stock exchange. The selection of stocks in the index is based on Obermatt’s rule-based 360° View on value and growth.
Bloomberg unveils new equity thematic indices for factor investing
Bloomberg has announced the launch of the Bloomberg MVP Index and Bloomberg Pricing Power Index as a new part of its thematic equities indices suite.
Designed by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (BISL), the Bloomberg MVP Index will track the performance of US large-cap companies and aims to identify the top 50 companies ‘exhibiting the strongest momentum, most muted volatility, attractive valuations, and highest profitability’. These companies are selected through an aggregated sector-neutral MVP score.
Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Pricing Power Index is constructed to track companies that ‘have maintained ‘consistent and stable profit margins’ throughout their history, zeroing in on companies that have showcased ‘the smallest deviations in trailing annual gross profit margins over the last five years'.
Allison Stone, head of multi-asset index product of BISL, highlighted that these indices will ‘empower investors with a new dimension of opportunity within factor investing’.
Structured warrants listed on SGX rise, DLCs drop
Structured warrants listed on Singapore Exchange (SGX) recorded a total turnover of SG$287m in August, rising 25% month-over-month (MoM).
A mix of Hang Seng Index (HSI) put and call warrants reached the top of the turnover charts as the Hong Kong stock market recorded a turbulent month due to the volatility in China's property markets and policy signals.
Fifty-five percent of HSI underlying warrants traded in August were on call warrants, while the rest was on puts, data from SGX showed.
Meanwhile, daily leverage certificates (DLCs) turnover reached SG$367m in August, down 5.1% MoM.
Singapore underlyings, such as Sembcorp and KepCorp were the top five active stock DLCs, with an increase of 166% and 83% MoM, respectively. Indices like the Straits Times Index also saw an increase of 348% in August. No new DLCs were listed in August.
The same month, Société Générale also partnered with SGX to launch the first-ever autocallable structured certificates in Asia.
Macquarie Group’s commodities and global markets unit chooses Adenza’s CapCloud
Australian investment bank Macquarie Group’s commodities and global markets (CGM) division has selected software application provider Adenza’s cloud services as a platform for its equity derivatives and trading business, according to Adenza’s statement.
CGM’s current functionality with Adenza’s Calypso platform will be migrated to the CapCloud platform, which will provide the business with a trade capture and post-trade processing platform, the US software application provider stated.
The new platform provides ‘direct control over non-production environments,’ ‘flexibility to build and maintain custom code natively within the SaaS environment,’ and ‘access to Adenza’s global resources and expertise,’ it added.
‘This move is part of our cloud-first strategy to enhance the speed and flexibility of our platform, and ultimately outcomes for clients,’ Mili Porumbel, CGM’s global head of equity derivatives and trading post trade technology, said in the statement.
Wedbush Financial Services completes investment in Velocity Trade
Wedbush Financial Services, the parent company of Los Angeles-based investment bank Wedbush Securities, led by president Gary Wedbush (right), has secured regulatory approval for its investment in and partnership with global broker-dealer Velocity Trade.
With this investment, Wedbush is now the largest shareholder in Velocity Trade, according to the firm’s announcement.
Wedbush stated the partnership focuses on multi-asset global execution. Velocity’s global footprint and regulatory framework allow Wedbush to provide clients with access to international markets and products and services, including prime services, foreign exchange, wealth management, and investment banking, the announcement read.