Philippe A. Naegeli, GenTwo’s CEO, could easily pass for a professional footballer or motivational coach in another life. His energetic appearance radiates ambition.

Whether in a small setting or on the big stage of the «Asset Rush,»a Fintech roadshow organized by GenTwo for the eighth time recently at Zurich’s Kaufleuten, Naegeli’s big theme, his mission, is called assetization.

AMCs as the Method of Choice

Assetization is the core idea of GenTwo, the fintech that Naegeli founded six years ago with former Vontobel structured products veteran Patrick Loepfe. «Make all assets bankable, investable, and manageable» is the motto displayed on Loepfe's LinkedIn profile.

This phrase is the condensed version of the credo on which GenTwo is built. On the company’s platform, customers have launched a total of 1,450 securities with a total value of over $5 billion in the past six years. Most of these are Actively Managed Certificates (AMCs), a hybrid between actively managed funds and structured products, freely tradable and with a Swiss ISIN number from the SIX.

Artworks and Ship Fleets

Any liquid or illiquid asset can be backed by an AMC, either for a limited or unlimited time. GenTwo’s customers include the art fintech Partasio, which securitizes artworks as AMCs together with GenTwo. Or the freight company Briese Schiffahrt, which has made its fleet investable.

In addition to traditional financial companies backing assets like bond portfolios or hedge fund strategies, there are also numerous crypto companies that package their products and strategies as AMCs or tokens via GenTwo.

Five-Minute Pitches

Back to the event at Kaufleuten: The eighth Asset Rush had around 600 participants, making it the largest such event to date. It’s a sort of financial fair but for the fintech community.

The event was set up, in true Silicon Valley fashion, as a «mix between LinkedIn and nightclub,» as the moderator put it. In three sessions, a total of thirty companies and projects presented themselves in five-minute pitches.

White-Labeling for Banks

GenTwo also had significant announcements: The company now offers its platform as a white-label solution called «GenTwo Pro for Banks» to other financial institutions.

Swissquote, the first digital bank in Switzerland, was the first client to adopt this offering, as finews.ch first reported last week. Zurich Swissquote CEO Simon Morgenthaler said it was Swissquote that «merged the financial center with technology.»

De Schepper as a Driving Force

On the sidelines of the event, finews.ch spoke with Morgenthaler and GenTwo CEO Philippe A. Naegeli. At Swissquote, Simon Morgenthaler, Robin Lemann, Head of Institutional Sales & Partners Business, and Jan De Schepper, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, were the key architects of the cooperation. 

Aiming for 80 trillion dollars: GenTwo CEO and co-founder Philippe A. Naegeli (Image zVg).

80 Trillion Dollars in Sight

Naegeli explained that Swissquote has already been working with GenTwo for around two years. «So far, however, this was limited to collaboration on individual investment products; now we are doing it based on our enhanced technology platform.» Specifically, Swissquote will offer the GenTwo technology to other financial companies and act as a broker and custodian in launching new products, such as AMCs.

«Milestone in Scaling»

«For Swissquote, it is essential to bring new products to market.» And this is guaranteed by «the new GenTwo Pro technology platform with just a few clicks and at better conditions than before.»

GenTwo is proud to have gained Swissquote, an internationally active and leading broker in Switzerland, as a partner. «It is an important milestone in scaling our business.» The partnership supports Swissquote in diversifying and multiplying the Swiss investment universe.

Independent Asset Managers in Sight

Swissquote’s Morgenthaler added: «At Swissquote, we have over 500 independent asset managers as business clients.» With «GenTwo Pro for Banks,» new opportunities are opened up to consolidate their investment strategies.

AMCs within minutes: Simon Morgenthaler, Head of Swissquote in Zurich. (Image zVg)

«We see AMCs as a counter-setup to funds: Although they are also issued in a regulated setting, they are significantly cheaper and faster than funds.» An AMC can be launched via GenTwo within 30 minutes.

«Substantially New Business»

The two managers reported that they had been working together on a customer and case-specific basis for a long time. With the integration of the platform for all business clients, this collaboration is now being expanded and formalized. «We expect substantially new business from this,» said Swissquote representative Morgenthaler.

No Quantitative Targets

Neither company wanted to name specific quantitative targets for the number and volume.

Untapped Assets of 80 Trillion Dollars

What is clear: In GenTwo’s mission to make an estimated 80 trillion dollars of assets worldwide investable that are currently illiquid or untradable, the cooperation with Swissquote is just one — but an important — step.

After the «Asset Rush,» Philippe A. Naegeli beamed: «We received great feedback from the market for the further development of our technology platform and were able to initiate meetings with various banks.»