- Structured Products are purpose-built securities that engineer specific risk and return profiles not achievable through conventional instruments alone.
- Onvest focuses on three product types: AMCs, Tracker Certificates, and Credit-Linked Notes (CLNs).
- AMCs let portfolio managers run a strategy inside a single bankable ISIN - without fund registration.
- Tracker Certificates give precise, rules-based exposure to bespoke indices or thematic baskets.
- CLNs provide enhanced yield in exchange for named, analysable credit risk on a reference entity.
- All Onvest products settle via SIX SIS, carry a Swiss ISIN, and are held in standard custody accounts.
Introduction
Structured Products are among the most widely used investment instruments in institutional and private banking globally. Switzerland hosts one of the world's most developed and transparent structured products markets with an array of both listed (SIX) and unlisted (OTC) products, covering the full spectrum from capital-protected notes to yield enhancement certificates, participation strategies, and credit-linked instruments. Total outstanding notional across the Swiss market runs to several hundred billion Swiss francs.
At their core, Structured Products are purpose-built securities that engineer a specific investment outcome. They allow to deliver risk and return profiles that cannot be achieved by holding conventional instruments alone: capital can be protected while still participating in equity upside, an income stream can be enhanced by accepting defined, named risk, or a complex investment strategy can be packaged into a single ISIN that settles through standard custody infrastructure and sits on a statement alongside any other security.
From the investor's perspective, Structured Products enable customisation of a specific return stream. They can serve as an alternative to a direct investment, as a component of an asset allocation that reduces overall risk exposure, or as a vehicle for expressing a precise market view. From the issuer's perspective, structuring means combining existing financial instruments to deliver the client's desired payoff function, translating a complex strategy or credit view into a single, standardised, custody-ready product.
Despite the wide array of applications and structures, the result is always the same: a single, custody-ready instrument carrying its own ISIN, held and reported in a standard custody account alongside any other security.
The SSPA Classification Framework
The SSPA maps structured product in Switzerland into one of four categories: 1. Capital protection, 2. yield enhancement, 3. participation and 4. investment with reference entities.
Onvest operates exclusively within categories 3 and 4: Participation products and Products with Reference Entities. Both offer direct equity (AMC/Tracker) or credit (AMC/CLN) exposure to an underlying without capital guarantee or income engineering.
Product Types
A structured note linked to a dynamically managed portfolio.
The manager adjusts holdings in real time. Unlike a fund, an AMC is a debt instrument under FinSA and does not require FINMA fund approval. This makes it faster to launch and significantly less costly to maintain than a regulated collective investment scheme.
- ManagementActive, discretionary
- UnderlyingEquities, fixed income, private markets, alternatives
- RegulationFinSA debt instrument; portfolio manager must be a regulated asset manager
- SSPA03 · Participation
Direct 1:1 participation in a defined underlying.
Composition is fixed or rules-governed at launch, not actively managed in real time. A Tracker Certificate is the structured product equivalent of an ETF for bespoke or non-standard underlyings. It is the instrument of choice when precise, low-complexity exposure is needed.
- ManagementPassive, rules-based or fixed composition
- UnderlyingSecurity, security basket, commodity
- RegulationFinSA debt instrument; manager may be unregulated subject to conditions
- SSPA03 · Participation
A credit note whose return is linked to the credit performance of a named reference entity.
Yield in exchange for explicit, contractually defined credit risk. Structurally, a CLN embeds a credit default swap within a funded note: the coupon reflects both the risk-free rate and the CDS premium. If a defined credit event occurs, investors receive a recovery amount rather than full principal repayment.
- ManagementPassive, linked to reference entity credit performance
- UnderlyingNamed reference entity or basket of entities
- RegulationFinSA debt instrument; manager may be unregulated subject to conditions
- SSPA04 · Reference Entities
Who Uses These Products?
Those who structure and issue the product.
A promoter defines the investment thesis, selects the underlying, appoints the manager, and is responsible for distributing the product to investors. The promoter is the commercial driver: they own the product concept and bring it to market using Onvest's structuring infrastructure.
Those who subscribe to the product via their existing bank or custodian.
Because every product carries a Swiss ISIN and settles through SIX SIS, investors can hold and report it alongside any other security in a standard custody account, with no new account, no special agreement, and no additional infrastructure required.
Listed vs. Unlisted
Onvest products are unlisted OTC instruments settled through SIX SIS and held in the investor's custody account at a Swiss private bank. NAV calculations are provided by the issuer. The products are fully transferable within the Swiss securities ecosystem and visible to custodians and portfolio management systems via their Swiss ISIN.