Leonteq AG (SIX: LEON) expands its presence in Europe with the opening of an office in Milan to more closely serve the Italian market.
The move to Milan is part of Leonteq’s planned expansion to increase its global footprint, and a natural next step to support the business growth and meet the needs of its client base as its activity in Italy continues to strengthen. Over the years, Italy has become a promising market for structured products with over 1,000 Leonteq certificates listed on EuroTLX and SeDeX. In particular, Leonteq has offered certificates on the EuroTLX exchange since 2016 and issued its first product on SeDeX just a year ago in October 2019. The continued demand for structured products in Italy also led to the first launch on EuroTLX of products issued by EFG International via Leonteq’s technology platform earlier this year.
Leonteq’s onshore business in Milan, which commenced at the beginning of October 2020, is managed by Marco Occhetti, Managing Director and Head South Europe at Leonteq. Marco joined Leonteq in 2015 and has built up the offering for the Italian market over the past years. Before joining Leonteq, Marco Occhetti led the private banking investment solutions business in Ticino and Southern Europe at Commerzbank for six years and was Vice President of equity derivatives at Deutsche Bank from 2007 to 2009, where he serviced institutional clients. Prior to this, he worked at Morgan Stanley in the institutional equity derivatives division and at Commerzbank.
Lukas Ruflin, CEO of Leonteq, stated: “We are delighted to open our office in Italy. This expansion underscores our commitment to the Italian market as well as the importance of this region for Leonteq.”
“We are excited to finally have a physical presence in Italy and work more closely with our clients and partners to expand our structured product offering and services”, added Marco Occhetti.