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Learn About Structured Products Strukturierte Produkte Verstehen

Plain-language guides covering AMCs, CLNs, Tracker Certificates, Swiss regulation and investor rights.

Structured Products: The Big Picture

What Are Structured Products?

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.

What Can Be a SMART Product?

The answer is broad: almost any asset class, strategy, or cash-flow stream can be securitised, provided two conditions are met. First, a net asset value must be calculable and reportable to investors. Second, the underlying must be held or controlled by the issuer, either directly in the case of liquid securities, or ring-fenced inside a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) when the underlying is illiquid, physical, or otherwise not directly custodisable.

Product Vehicles: AMC, CLN & Tracker

What is an AMC?

An Actively Managed Certificate is a structured debt instrument that packages a dynamically managed investment strategy into a single, tradable security. The AMC is issued by a bank, a securities dealer, or - such as is the case with SMART - a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and tracks the performance of an underlying portfolio that a designated strategy sponsor manages in real time.

What is a CLN (Credit Linked Note)?

A Credit Linked Note (CLN) is a structured debt instrument that combines the cash flows of a conventional note with an embedded credit derivative. The investor lends capital to the CLN issuer and receives periodic coupon payments at a rate above what a comparable risk-free instrument would offer. The premium reflects compensation for bearing credit risk.

Tracker Certificate

What is a Tracker Certificate?

A Tracker Certificate is a structured debt instrument that replicates the performance of an underlying asset or custom basket on a 1:1 basis. The issuer - which may be a bank, a securities dealer, or - such as is the case with SMART - a special purpose vehicle (SPV) - packages the performance of the defined underlying into a single, tradable security.

Platform & Pricing: Onvest SMART

Why Choose Onvest and SMART?

Bringing an investment strategy to market used to mean one of two things: registering a fund, or negotiating a bespoke arrangement with a bank. A regulated fund requires FINMA approval, a full prospectus, months of setup, and a cost structure that rarely makes sense below CHF 100 million in assets under management.

Launching a SMART Product

Bringing an investment strategy to market used to mean one of two things: registering a fund, or negotiating a bespoke arrangement with a bank. A regulated fund requires FINMA approval, a full prospectus, months of setup, and a cost structure that rarely makes sense below CHF 100 million in assets under management. Even then, the ongoing burden of a fund can consume a disproportionate share of a manager's operational capacity.

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