Piotr Zembrowski

J.P. Morgan Private Bank, BSI and two other private banks have joined Contineo’s messaging network for structured products, bringing the list of subscribers to 40% of Asia’s top private banks measured by AUM. Natixis has joined the network as a new issuer.“We went live just seven months ago and have had an enthusiastic response to our offering,” says Mark Munoz, managing director of Contineo. The Hong Kong-based company is the first industry-supported, open messaging network aiming to facilitate quoting and trading in structured products by linking private banks and wealth management firms with issuers.

Four out of Asia’s top 10 private banks by AUM subscribe to Contineo network, while the issuers include Julius Baer, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan and Societe Generale. The private banks are based mostly in Singapore and the issuers in Hong Kong.

Contineo facilitates a high level of automation in what has traditionally been a cumbersome process based on email and spreadsheets. The online platform is capable of delivering hundreds of quotes for structured products upon a single request. It facilitates placing of orders, communicating their status and delivering term sheets after a trade is executed.

“One of the reasons we’ve been able to have such quick adoption is that we have compliance support, regulatory reports, best execution reports… and about 25 others,” says Munoz. Compiling them has traditionally been very time consuming.

The company has been also leveraging its data analytics. “We’re able to deliver back some useful information to our subscribers about what’s happening in structured products across Asia,” says Munoz.

Contineo supports six types of equity-linked structured payoffs: equity-linked notes, knock-out equity linked notes, accumulators, decumulators, fixed coupon notes, daily range accrual notes and OTC options. “We’re looking at two or three other payoffs to add,” says Munoz.

Read more at http://theasset.com/article/30874/contineo-expands-its-network-of-private-bank-clients