ABN Amro launches new UK structured products business

ABN Amro has launched a new UK-based business to provide easy access to innovative structured products through a regulated fund vehicle.

The new team will be led by London-based Gijs Kaars Sijpesteijn, head of UK private investor products and exchange-traded funds. The business, which will build on the investment bank’s established presence in the structured products market, plans to launch a suite of between eight and 10 structured products, which will be available to UK retail investors by January next year.

Mike Egerton and Jonathan Kent will also join the team in London. Egerton previously worked at Dresdner Kleinwort, where he was responsible for sales and marketing of structured products. Kent joins from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where he was deputy chief investment officer and head of investment products. ABN Amro plans to expand the team further, with more hires due next year.

ABN Amro’s private investor products business has more than €26 billion of assets under management. By creating a Ucits III umbrella fund, to be known as Proteus Defined Funds, and a Non-Ucits Retail Scheme, called the Proteus Diversified Fund, ABN Amro will offer private banks, stockbrokers, discretionary managers and private investors access to structured products through a familiar and regulated vehicle. The Proteus Defined Funds will invest in equities, commodities and volatility products.