vestr secured CHF 10M in funding in the latest financing round!

Active
Management is on the rise

Actively Managed Certificates (AMCs) are securitised portfolios that are dynamically adjusted at the discretion of an investment manager. They can be issued as on- or off-balance sheet certificates and are either privately placed or exchange-listed.

The global AMC market exceeds $1 trillion in assets under management. With the most significant growth happening in the last three years. Depending on the jurisdiction, these products are also referred to as Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), Dynamic Equity Notes, Strategy Notes, Strategy Index Certificates, and Actively Managed Trackers.

Knowledge

The benefits of Actively Managed Certificates

Due to their fast time to market, flexibility, and lower costs, AMCs offer many benefits over comparable financial vehicles such as mutual funds.

This allows investment managers to turn their investment ideas into an exchange-listed product on the same day. Now, the vestr platform makes it even easier for issuers and investment managers. We digitize the full lifecycle management of your investment products.

The benefits of AMC
Knowledge

How does it work?

Turning an idea into an investable product means hard work. Issuers must create the legal setup for the certificate. Simultaneously, investment managers need to continuously monitor and manage its compositions. On top of that, today’s investors expect periodic insights and transparent reports.

The vestr platform is the first end-to-end solution that facilitates these workflows. Investment managers can perform rebalancings and download reports directly on the platform. In the background, vestr’s APIs can easily be connected with the issuers’ downstream systems and brokers. The goal is to ensure a seamless experience and minimal efforts for everyone involved.

How does it work?
Challenge and Solution

Billions of dollars are still managed on spreadsheets

Due to their dynamic nature and operational complexity, Actively Managed Certificates are often managed on spreadsheets. Lifecycle events are highly non-standardized and are typically handled manually. In other words, introducing operational risks and inefficiencies.

By transforming these processes from spreadsheets, emails, and phone calls into an intuitive state-of-the-art platform, vestr creates a bullet-proof and fully auditable workflow.

Spreadsheet management
Challenge and Solution

Margins are getting squeezed

Increasing regulation, competition and new entrants are disrupting traditional value chains and revolutionising wealth managers business models. How can you remain competitive in today’s market?

Put a spotlight on your core competencies and remove technical hurdles. The vestr platform enables you to provide more value for your customers with less effort. How? By fully automating labor intensive processes and streamlining after-sales activities.

Margins are getting dsqueezed
Solution

How we do it

Focus on selling your products while we handle everything else.

By partnering with vestr, you get a modular platform to automate your Actively Managed Certificate value chain. Our ‘pay as you earn’ pricing model allows you to go live fast and with fair upfront costs.

Schedule a meeting with one of our experts.

Expertise

Combining extensive industry experience with substantial quantitative backgrounds

With focus and dedication to Actively Managed Certificates, the vestr team has acquired deep knowledge in this field. From issuing AMCs to implementing quantitative models, our knowledge spans across the entire spectrum. Through continuous and active involvement, our technologies continue to shape the AMC community. At the same time, our solutions generalize the needs of many players.

The vestr team brings extensive experience in leading Fintech and technology companies. Our capabilities ensure that we create the leading software for AMC issuers.

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Dr. Rico Blaser

Co-Founder & CEO

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Simon Hasenfratz

Co-Founder & COO

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Dr. Tim Meyer

Co-Founder & CTO

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Peter Cicman

VP Engineering

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Stefan Wagner

VP Business Development

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Mischa Weise

VP Clients

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Aron Thor Hjartarson

Head of Product

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Pascal Matter

VP Finance

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Lisa Schroeder

Director, Business Management

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Tom Laich

Team Lead Ukraine

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Dr. Rico Blaser

Co-Founder & CEO

– Former senior buy- and sell-side trader
– Expert in Actively Managed Certificates

Rico was responsible for a multi-billion proprietary trading book at a top US bank in London and New York. Furthermore, while there, he traded exotic derivatives - sharing responsibility for a complex and highly profitable correlation book.

After his return to Switzerland, Rico joined a Swiss bank, where he advanced to become the deputy head of cross-asset structured products. During his tenure, Rico’s team managed a sizable operation in Actively Managed Certificates with equities, bonds, funds, futures, and options underlyings.

Rico earned quantitative degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford. Additionally, he successfully completed postgraduate research at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Simon Hasenfratz

Co-Founder & COO

– Math Olympiad medalist
– Former cross-asset trader

Before co-founding vestr, Simon worked at a leading Swiss bank, first as a financial engineer, and then as a senior derivatives trader. While there, he gained exposure to asset management, sales, and trading.

Simon studied pure mathematics at King’s College London and ETH Zürich, earning a master’s degree with highest honours - graduating with a perfect GPA.

As a medalist at the Math Olympiad, Simon represented Switzerland in Greece and Mexico.

Dr. Tim Meyer

Co-Founder & CTO

– Software Development & IT infrastructure
– Builder of complex financial platforms and models

After completing his Ph.D. in theoretical physics, Tim started his career within the financial services industry as a consultant for numerous large European banks.

Following his consulting career, Tim pursued two in-house positions at major banks. First, as a quantitative analyst in the structured products division of a top Swiss bank, where he was responsible for building a platform for issuing investment certificates. Later, Tim joined the asset management division of a well-known German bank, where he built credit risk and cash flow models for pricing complex loan portfolios and credit-linked notes.

His quantitative insights and product knowledge form the core of the vestr technology platform.

Peter Cicman

VP Engineering

– Broad technology expertise
– Motto: “getting the last 20% done.”

Peter draws on twenty years of successful software delivery in the financial, insurance, and technology sectors.

Thanks to his previous role as the Senior Principal Enterprise Architect at an established software consulting firm, Peter knows what it takes to deliver high-quality results. Formerly the Head of Web and Mobile Engineering at a global Swiss bank, Peter is well-equipped to deliver scalable software solutions under tight resource and time constraints.

It is under Peter’s pragmatic and hands-on leadership that the vestr solution is maturing into an industry standard.

Peter holds master’s degrees in Electronics and Telecommunications Technology, and Economics and Management.

Stefan Wagner

VP Business Development

– 25+ years in the financial services industry
– Structured products expert
– Former manager of global Delta One Products at leading issuer

Stefan began his career as a derivatives structurer in 1994 and established the European exotic options trading desk of a leading global bank. He ran one of the most active and consistently profitable equity option trading teams globally. Subsequently, Stefan ran the bank’s EMEA structured products business, where he developed a range of investment products and funds. Over $50 billion of these investments were successfully placed with high net worth and institutional clients.

Prior to joining vestr, Stefan established a successful fund, which specialized in derivative and value investing arbitrage strategies. He went onto manage the global Delta One business - including AMCs - at a top Swiss issuer of structured products. 

Mischa Weise

VP Clients

– Former Management Consultant
– Broad Coaching and Training Experience

Mischa brings 15 years of management consulting expertise. He has worked with Global 500 clients across multiple industries - such as capital markets, banking and life science - and led global transformations through the full business life cycle. He has coached and managed multiple traditional and Agile teams (SAFe, Kanban, and Scrum).

Mischa is a certified SAFeProgramme Consultant (SPC) and holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from ETH Zürich.

Aron Thor Hjartarson

Head of Product

– Senior software engineer
– Has a knack for teamwork and getting things done  

Aron has spent more than 7 years in the Swiss IT scene, where he worked with promising award-winning startups as well as leading companies in the financial services industry. Before joining vestr, he worked for Switzerland’s leading core banking solution provider.

Originally from Iceland, Aron began his career working as a researcher in plasma physics before transitioning into software development. As a full stack software engineer, he has been responsible for projects ranging from 3D reconstruction algorithms, to mobile messaging clients, to digital wealth management services. Additionally, he has served as a consultant, and has a knack for coaching people and getting things done.

Aron not only leads our cross-functional product team, but is also a driving force in our day-to-day operations: growing the vestr solution while ensuring a solid delivery process for our clients.

He holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology from ETH Zürich.

Pascal Matter

VP Finance

– 10+ years of professional experience in the financial services industry
– Former M&A advisor

Pascal started his career in the M&A team of a Swiss insurance company. There, he had the opportunity to work on exciting and dynamic M&A projects, as well as support strategically important business development initiatives both in Switzerland and abroad. 

Following this, he gained further experience in financial services as an M&A Manager at a Big 4 consulting firm, providing comprehensive buy- and sell-side advisory services throughout the entire transaction life cycle. 

Pascal is a Certified International Investment Analyst / CIIA® and holds a master’s degree in Business Administration

Lisa Schroeder

Director, Business Management

– SFA FinTech LeaderUnder 30
– Community builder and public speaker

Lisa has contributed to FinTech communities across different hubs in Europe and Asia by organising large-scale Hackathons in collaboration with banks and other financial institutions.

As a founding member of an impact consulting network in Helsinki, Finland and a contributor to a Swiss FinTech incubator and accelerator in Zürich, Switzerland, she has always fostered active engagement between start-ups, incumbents, investors, regulators, mentors, and multipliers.

Lisa holds a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from Aalto University (graduated with an award-winning thesis).

Tom Laich

Team Lead Ukraine

– Head of Ukraine Office
– Senior Software Engineer
– Front-End Expert

Tom has been working in the software industry for 8 years. In this time, he has led development teams in Switzerland, Vietnam and Eastern Europe. His experience spans across a number of sectors, including banking, insurance, and public transportation.

Previously, as software development team lead at one of the largest employers in Switzerland, he designed and co-built a new cloud-based intranet platform for >30’000 users.

Tom studied at Télécom ParisTech and ETH Zurich, gaining a master’s degree from ETH (awarded with Distinction) in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. Furthermore, he holds a CAS from ETH in Computer Science.

Since starting with three founders in 2017, our team has grown to more than 30 international contributors, including ex-Googlers, Avaloq veterans, Accenture and d-fine experts, and ETH alumni with Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Engineering. Our awesome group of engineers, financial experts, and thought leaders is driving technological change and working on creating meaningful solutions for the financial sector.