Press release: Fintech company Loanboox cooperates with ICF BANK

by Loanboox | Oct 6, 2020 | Borrow, Invest, Media

The fintech Loanboox and ICF Bank AG have joined forces to turn the market for bond issues in Germany upside down: The first corporate bonds of medium-sized companies will soon be processed digitally.

After the first successful issue via Loanboox in Switzerland, the first corporate bonds in Germany are to follow in the next few weeks. With the cooperation of the established ICF BANK AG Wertpapierhandelsbank and the independent debt capital market platform Loanboox, both sides have created an essential basis for joint activities in the German market. Sascha Rinno, Chief Capital Markets Officer of ICF BANK AG:

«We are convinced that digitalisation will also find its way into the capital market business. Thanks to Loanboox’s digital platform, we are bringing more efficiency and transparency to the processing of bond issues – to the benefit of issuers and investors.»

Investors are continuously informed about the most important process steps and deadlines via the platform and have access to all transaction-relevant documents and information. This increases the efficiency of the placement process for all parties involved.

Stefan Feller, Director Capital Markets at Loanboox: «Together with the specialists at ICF, we are pleased to digitise the issuing process for corporate bonds in Germany as well. This will not only make it more comprehensible, but also more accessible.»

About ICF Bank AG

ICF Bank AG with its more than 75 employees is one of the leading securities trading banks in Germany.

In addition to the Market Making and Brokerage Services business areas, ICF is active in the Capital Markets business area as a long-term and reliable capital market partner and supports its clients in all questions of equity and debt financing. The focus of the advisory services is on listed companies or companies close to the capital market with plans to enter the capital market. The experienced team of experts has successfully completed numerous capital market transactions and offers its clients efficient support in the structuring and placement of equity and debt capital markets transactions.

About Loanboox GmbH

The fintech Loanboox is Europe’s leading debt capital market platform for large corporations, the public sector, institutional investors and banks. Loanboox has processed over EUR 40 billion in financing requests to date and is active in six countries.

Axpo Holding AG places first listed Green Bond via Loanboox

by Loanboox | Jul 15, 2020 | Borrow, Invest, Media

Zurich, 15.07.2020. Axpo Holding AG is the first issuer to place a listed green bond entirely digitally via the independent debt capital market platform Loanboox.

The green bond for CHF 133 million and a term of 7 years was well received by investors in the capital market, and 35 orders got allocated. The energy group will use the capital to finance projects in the photovoltaic and wind energy sectors. The great interest shown by investors underlines the demand for sustainable investments and confirms Axpo’s strategy of profitable growth in renewable energies.

First fully digital corporate bond

The green bond was issued entirely digitally via the debt capital market platform Loanboox. In the dynamic and transparent Loanboox Live Bookbuilding® tool, investors set the price themselves. All process steps, deadlines and fees were known in advance to investors and issuer and were transparently visible at all times. Both sides were able to follow the order book in real time. The energy company placed the bonds with asset managers, banks, funds, pension funds and insurance companies. Martin Denkinger, Head Financing & Cash Management at Axpo, is very satisfied with the premiere:

The transaction via Loanboox worked smoothly and significantly increased transparency with regard to investors.

Important step towards digitalisation of the capital market

After successfully establishing itself as the leading platform in the field of municipal financing, Loanboox is now also digitalizing the bond market. Philippe Cayrol, CEO of Loanboox:

This first bond is a proof point that our digital process creates value for all market participants. We’re proud of the first deal and look forward to working with innovative clients and partners to set new standards in transparency, pricing and allocation in the primary market in Switzerland and in the EU.

Competent partners supported Loanboox

The Green Bond of Axpo Holding AG has a coupon of 1.002 percent. The bond will be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Société Générale Paris, Zurich Branch as paying agent and listing partner, Deutsche Bank (London) as market maker, First Advisory Bond Services AG as holders representative and PwC Switzerland as due diligence agent acted as partners. Loanboox was also supported by Bär & Karrer AG as legal advisor in the transaction..

Contact person:

Loanboox
Martina Buehler, Head Marketing & Communication
Stefan Feller, Director Capital Markets
Talacker 50, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
+41 55 220 78 29
press@loanboox.com

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Loanboox and DKB offer new banking services for institutional investors

by Loanboox | Jul 7, 2020 | Invest, Media

Until now, it was only possible for insurance companies, pension funds and provident funds to invest in loans to a very limited extent. In Germany, commercial lending is subject to authorisation according to the German Banking Act (KWG) and is classic banking business. To allow institutional investors to extend loans to municipalities or public utilities, Loanboox and DKB now offer banking services for fronting bank and paying agent.

“Fronting bank” and “paying agent” are services that are already used in traditional business by the various market participants. They are also necessary in the digital business to enable institutional investors to enter the lending business.

DKB’s “Fronting Bank” service enables insurance companies, pension funds and provident funds to access new investment opportunities. In doing so, DKB takes over the entire operational processing of the loan. This includes, among other things, the preparation of documents, the value date process including KYC, the verification of disbursement requirements and much more. The advantage: investors do not have to build up administration or additional know-how to grant loans.

As a paying agent, DKB also takes over the execution of payment transaction functions for loan agreements in order to significantly reduce the administrative effort for borrowers and investors. In doing so, DKB serves as a contact and coordinator for its contractual partners. Settlement is simple, fast and digital via the independent debt capital market platform Loanboox.

Direct access to the municipal lending business

Loanboox primarily addresses municipal and municipal-related clients, i.e. cities, municipalities, municipal enterprises and municipal utilities. With municipal loans we are talking about a very safe asset class. After federal bonds (risk of the Federal Republic of Germany) and the bonds of federal states, municipal loans are a quasi AAA investment option with an extremely low default risk. At the same time, the achievable return is significantly more attractive compared to federal or federal state investment options. Municipal financing also has the advantage that, similar to government bonds, there is no equity backing under Solvency II. Investors looking for interesting but at the same time very safe investment opportunities in this challenging market environment will find what they are looking for at Loanboox.

By expanding the range of these banking services, we can find new investors for our borrower clients. At the same time, investors can choose from a wide range of municipal financing applications the one that suits them best – and select the necessary service directly without any further effort.

For investors who are interested in the new services, we offer personal webinars. Please feel free to contact us.

New Release May 2020

by | May 15, 2020 | Borrow, Insights, Invest

Loanboox works perfectly in all areas even during the Corona crisis. Our software development team has rolled out the new release from home office. Here are the most important changes.

Website:

New design

There’s not much to explain – we hope you find it intuitive and you like it.

Focus on relevant content: Our new blog

We will provide you with whitepapers, market information, factsheets and much more in our new blog. Come back regularly to check the news.

Lenny and Noa, our chatbots

The Loanboox family has grown: Lenny and Noa, our two virtual colleagues / chatbots. They are happy to answer your questions or forward them to the human colleagues. The chatbot tool is from the Swiss start-up Aiaibot. Try it out (just click on the head in the bottom right corner), there is a lot to discover 🙂

Platform:

New design

The platform also got a fresher look, a more intuitive user interface, simplified tab structures, action buttons and a revamped document center.

Support

In order to be able to support you in the best possible way, we have introduced two new features: On one hand, you will find your direct contact person displayed on the start page. If you have any questions, you can always contact him or her via chat or call. On the other hand, there is a step-by-step assistant for the most important functions which should help you to get used to the new interface very quickly.

Specially interesting for borrowers: The portfolio

As of now, we offer our borrowers a portfolio. On one hand, you can see the most important facts about your previous financing requests at a glance (interest payment dates, expiration dates and volumes etc.), you can renew and find expiring loan tranches with just a few clicks. You can also add the loans closed outside of Loanboox, so that you have an overview about all your loans in your portfolio. On the other hand, you can find current market developments and interest rate overviews graphically displayed.

Specially interesting for investors: Investor profile and direct loans

Now you have the possibility to adjust your filter criteria in your investor profile according to maturity, currencies, segments, regions, etc. – so that they correspond exactly to what you are interested in and you will only be informed in case of matching requests. Loanboox has also launched a new product, direct loans. As an investor, you can reach a large number of borrowers in only one step and the borrowers can complete their offers in just two clicks; no tender, no effort, efficient for both contracting parties. For further information please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Recommendation for all our users: Do not use IE 11 anymore

If you are still working with the Internet Explorer 11 browser, we strongly recommend that you update it or use another browser. Otherwise, the platform will no longer work as desired. By the way, this helps you for many other programs, too, not only for Loanboox.

Refresher needed or get started right away?

Apart from these adjustments, there are many other new features you can discover on the platform.

Would you like to learn more about the new release? We are happy to explain the functionalities in detail in a webinar or you can test it yourself directly on the new platform.

LOGIN AND START TESTING

– for registered users –

SIGN UP FOR WEBINAR

– for new customers and registered users –

Questions or remarks?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via chat or by phone (+49 221 9865420). We look forward to working with you in the future to make the debt capital markets more accessible, efficient and transparent.

Your Loanboox-Team

New release: May makes everything new!

by Loanboox | May 8, 2020 | Borrow, Invest

Loanboox is working well in all areas even during the Corona crisis, for example our development team rolled out the new release from the home office. It has something for everyone. Here are the most important changes.