Swiss specialist for structured products Leonteq inaugurated its new premises in Singapore the same day as Swiss BSI bank was kicked out of town.
More than 200 persons gathered on Tuesday to the opening of Leonteq’s new offices in Asia Square Tower 1 in Singapore; due to the strong growth in the last few years and the promising perspectives in the region, the Zurich-based company that structures financial products and offers digital investment solutions had to look for more space.
Already based in Asia Square Tower 1 on the 39th floor, the company has now moved to almost the whole floor 36 where Leonteq has enough space for at least 100 employees. At the moment about 45 persons work for the company in Singapore.
Potential in Hong Kong too
But as Jeremy Ng, the CEO of Leonteq in Asia, told finews.asia the plans are to hire at least 20 more persons in the region. The fact that many banks are re-calibrating their business provides great opportunities to employ excellent people, Ng further explained. The same will happen in Hong Kong, where Leonteq sees fantastic growth potential too.
In his speech, Co-Founder and CEO Jan Schoch (pictured above) remembered how the company a few years ago started its then modest business out of Singapore with only nine persons. He delivered a very optimistic outlook although the financial markets have been rather disappointing in recent months. But thanks to several cooperations with big banks and brands such as J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Maybank, Schoch is confident to find enough distribution channels for structured products.
Cooperation with Singapore's Economic Development Board
Further, Leonteq has announced a cooperation with the Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) to create a fintech research and development state of the art lab. Leonteq herewith underlines its commitment to Singapore, looks for the brightest IT developers in the area and fosters apprenticeships locally.
Not surprisingly the topic number one among the guests on Tuesday evening was the decision of Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) to shut down the business of Switzerland’s BSI bank in the lion city, due to the investigation of money laundering in the context of the corruption affair of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
«BSI Bank is the worst case of control lapses and gross misconduct that we have seen in the Singapore financial sector,» the MAS said on Tuesday.
