Jan Schoch, the ex-CEO of Leonteq, will start with a new company devoted to derivatives in May. And that’s not the only thing reminiscent of his former firm.

Jan Schoch says his new company, Anova Partners, won’t have much in common with Leonteq. «We are going in a totally different direction,» he told «Finanz und Wirtschaft». «Unlike Leonteq, we won’t emit our own derivatives. We are independent, we have no conflicts of interest and no pressure to sell our own products.»

In October 2017, Schoch resigned as CEO at Leonteq, a company he had co-founded, following pressure from major stakeholders. He followed through on his departure by selling his stake in the company.

Hotel Manager

Having been away from finance for a while and having devoted time to running a hotel in the rural areas of Appenzell, Schoch is now back. First, he was appointed as a member of the board at Alpinum Bank, which is based in Liechtenstein. And now with Anova Partners, which will be based in Gonten, in the canton of Appenzell Innerhoden. He founded the firm in 2014 and used it as a shell company for Bank Flynt, which proved a short-lived exercise.

Schoch has teamed up with Sandro Balduini for the venture and managed to sign up sales experts Thomas Aebli, Giuliano Fusco and Raphael Dorsaz as well as derivatives specialist David Straumann. Currently under contract at Leonteq, the four will start at Anova in June, according to the business newspaper.

Management of Derivatives

Schoch’s business idea is to offer wealth managers, pension funds, banks and insurers the complete digital management of their derivatives portfolios. Other providers are invited to join the platform via digital access points (API) – Schoch therefore doesn’t see his new firm as a competitor for Leonteq. Anova Partners is using its own software.

The business model reminds of Flynt, Schoch’s erstwhile fintech bank. Flynt offered to move all asset of rich clients onto his digital platform and to provide them with a tailor-made advisory service. The business model and the technology developed today is being employed by Zug fintech Altoo.

No Undue Haste

What’s new about Schoch’s venture is his insistence to start out slowly: «We will first focus on Switzerland. If we are successful here, we may later move into other markets.»