Expanded and revised edition, written by Patrick Loepfe, Philippe A. Naegeli and Tom Lyons.
“ETFs cracked open the public markets. Assetization aims to crack open everything else.”
Jim Wiandt, Founder of ETF.com
Two years ago, we self-published “Assetization” to explore the democratization of financial product creation, a process that could unlock trillions upon trillions of dollars of value. The book was a success, going through three printings as readers embraced our vision of democratizing investment through standardized “financial containers.” But much has happened in the last two years.
So now, we’ve partnered with Wiley—one of the world’s leading business publishers—to bring you a completely revised and expanded edition that’s two-thirds longer, far more in-depth and with a vastly expanded vision.
In this book, the team from the award-winning Swiss fintech GenTwo analyze what is happening and what it means.
The core of the book is a description of three overlapping waves of change that are reshaping what goes into portfolios and how financial products get made.
The first wave — the democratization of access to private markets and alternative assets — has been gathering momentum for a decade, driven by incumbents and disruptors alike. The second, where GenTwo and its peers are active, is the modularization of the investment industry value chain: securitization and tokenization tools are becoming more ubiquitous, and independent platforms are emerging across distribution, custody, valuation and other key components of the chain. This sets the scene for a third wave of radical automation of the entire product creation and distribution process.
The authors call the phenomenon of radical automation of the entire product creation and distribution process “assetization,” and see in it a broad transfer of power. The industry is moving from a sellers’ market — where large institutions decided what investors could hold — to a buyers’ market where investors have genuine choice.
Independent advisors and wealth managers are gaining the tools to create their own products, blurring the line between the buy side and the sell side. And as automation takes hold, the ability to turn any asset or idea into an investible product will eventually extend beyond finance altogether — to companies, and ultimately to individuals. This will completely change how investing works as well as unlock hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of investible value that is currently hard to access.
The Founder and Chairman of GenTwo. A seasoned expert in structured products and investment banking with over 25 years of experience, he revolutionized financial processes throughout his career, including development of Vontobel’s groundbreaking Deritrade platform. Patrick founded d-struct AG in 2015 and is recognized as a key figure in Switzerland’s fintech industry.
The Co-Founder and CEO of GenTwo. He brings over 30 years of international experience in trading, investment and merchant banking, corporate governance, and entrepreneurship. Philippe founded PAN Asset Management in 2007, establishing an international network of financial institutions and investment funds, and served as CEO and Managing Partner of Forstmann & Co. USA.
Responsible for communications and thought leadership at GenTwo. Originally from New York and educated at Columbia University, he moved to Zurich in 1994, where he worked in communications and marketing at Clariden Bank, Credit Suisse and UBS. He founded Lyons Communications in 2014, specializing in technology storytelling with an emphasis on fintech, blockchain, and emerging technologies. He is also the author of The Assetizer newsletter and podcast.
