Certificati e AMC:
Strumenti o Architetture di Investimento?

In the current financial market environment, characterized by persistent volatility, dispersion of returns, and increasing complexity of macroeconomic drivers, financial instruments such as certificates and Actively Managed Certificates (AMCs) have progressively evolved in their role. They have shifted from predominantly tactical solutions to structural components within portfolio construction, becoming vehicles through which specific risk-return configurations can be implemented and integrated into sophisticated wealth management architectures.

In this context, it is essential to assess these instruments not only from a technical perspective, but also in terms of their practical application within complex portfolio structures, with particular reference to the Swiss market.

Certificates and AMCs are part of the broader universe of structured products, which includes securitized derivatives, leverage products, and hybrid solutions. Within the Swiss market—one of the most developed globally—data from the Swiss Structured Products Association, as reported in the Swiss Structured Products Industry Report Q4 2024, highlights trading volumes of approximately:

• Circa CHF 221 billion in 2022

• Circa CHF 180 billion in 2023

• Circa CHF 196 billion in 2024

In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, trading volume reached approximately CHF 51 billion, up from CHF 41 billion in Q4 2023.

These figures reflect the overall transaction value in the structured products market and serve as an indicator of the widespread adoption and utilization of these instruments within the Swiss financial landscape.

Certificates

Within this universe, investment certificates represent the predominant segment, both in terms of volume and market penetration. Their widespread use in Switzerland is also supported by a long-standing tradition of integrating structured products as a core component of asset allocation strategies.

According to the same report, equity-linked products account for approximately 53% of the structured products market, followed by foreign exchange exposures (around 25%) and, to a lesser extent, fixed income-related structures (approximately 12%). A significant share is represented by yield enhancement products, reflecting their extensive use for income generation and volatility management.

Within this ecosystem, Swiss banks play a central role. Major institutions—particularly universal banks and private banks—act as issuers, structurers, and market makers, contributing to the development of a highly diversified and flexible product offering.

At the same time, the presence of an efficient market infrastructure represents a key distinguishing factor. SIX Swiss Exchange plays a central role in the trading of structured products, providing a regulated, transparent, and relatively liquid environment, characterized by a high degree of process standardization, depth of the secondary market, and strong integration between issuers and trading platforms.

A defining aspect of the evolution of certificates is the qualitative shift in demand. According to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the use of structured products linked to interest rates and inflation in the European market increased from 6% in 2022 to 21% in 2023. This trend highlights a significant transition: the use of certificates is gradually shifting from a predominantly yield-oriented approach to a more sophisticated framework aimed at implementing complex investment strategies.

In particular, these instruments are increasingly used to express macroeconomic views in a structured manner, manage targeted exposures to specific risk factors—such as interest rates, inflation, and volatility—and construct non-linear payoff profiles that are difficult to replicate through traditional instruments.

From a technical standpoint, certificates are securitized derivative instruments that combine, within a single structure, exposure to one or more underlying assets, embedded optional components, and issuer credit risk.

The resulting return profile is inherently non-linear and defined by a predetermined payoff structure, whose behavior depends on the interaction of various market factors, including implied volatility, interest rate dynamics, and correlations between underlying assets.

As a result, the analysis of a certificate cannot be limited to its underlying asset, but requires a comprehensive understanding of the overall structure and the embedded exposures it entails.

A distinctive feature of the Swiss market is the differentiated use of certificates across investor segments. Retail clients tend to use certificates primarily for income generation and optimization of the risk-return profile, often through relatively standardized structures. High-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients, on the other hand, employ certificates in a more sophisticated manner, integrating them within multi-asset strategies to fine-tune specific exposures or implement targeted market views. Institutional investors typically use certificates more selectively, often as overlay instruments or to access exposures that are difficult to replicate through traditional vehicles.

In this context, certificates have evolved beyond their traditional role, no longer serving merely as yield-generating instruments, but as tools for constructing tailored payoff profiles and engineering risk exposures.

Within the Swiss market, the presence of relatively liquid secondary markets and transparent pricing mechanisms facilitates the monitoring of these instruments, although their inherent complexity remains.

AMCs

Actively Managed Certificates represent a distinct evolution compared to traditional certificates, introducing a fundamentally different approach to investment structuring. Unlike certificates, which define a payoff profile ex-ante, AMCs encapsulate an actively managed strategy—whether discretionary or systematic—within a tradable instrument, shifting the focus from payoff structure to the dynamics of the underlying management process.

From a structural perspective, certificates exhibit a predefined and largely static risk-return profile, whereas in AMCs this profile evolves over time based on management decisions or systematic rules. This distinction implies a fundamentally different nature of risk exposure: in certificates, risk is engineered within the structure, whereas in AMCs it results from an ongoing decision-making process.

Operationally, an AMC functions as a vehicle that replicates an underlying portfolio through a note issued by a financial intermediary, with periodic updates of the Net Asset Value (NAV) based on the positions held. The composition of the portfolio can be adjusted with varying frequency—daily or even intraday—allowing for a level of flexibility and responsiveness that is difficult to achieve through traditional investment vehicles. 
Compared to traditional investment funds, AMCs offer greater operational flexibility, as they are not subject to the same regulatory constraints in terms of diversification, leverage, and liquidity. This enables the implementation of more concentrated, dynamic, or opportunistic strategies. However, this flexibility comes with lower standardization and a higher dependence on the quality of the management process.

One of the key advantages of AMCs lies in their speed of implementation. The ability to structure and launch a strategy within a relatively short timeframe significantly reduces time-to-market, which is particularly valuable in volatile environments or when seeking to capture short-term opportunities. In addition, key parameters—such as the investment universe, risk limits, and allocation rules—can be tailored, allowing for a high degree of customization.

Within the Swiss context, AMCs have found particularly fertile ground, supported by a highly developed ecosystem comprising independent asset managers, financial institutions, and technological platforms capable of facilitating their issuance and distribution.

ihese characteristics make AMCs especially suitable for use within family office structures, where the integration of specific strategies within a broader wealth architecture requires flexible, transparent, and efficiently implementable tools. In such settings, AMCs are often used to isolate distinct strategic components—such as thematic allocations, quantitative approaches, or opportunistic strategies—while maintaining full visibility and control within the overall portfolio. o strategie opportunistiche — mantenendone al contempo il controllo e la visibilità all’interno del portafoglio complessivo.

Conclusions

Within the Swiss financial landscape, certificates and AMCs operate within a mature and highly specialized ecosystem, where complex instruments have progressively become integral to portfolio construction frameworks.

Their evolution reflects a broader shift in how risk and return are conceived and managed—from variables to be optimized ex-post to elements that are designed ex-ante through coherent structures.

Understanding these instruments requires more than technical knowledge; it demands the ability to interpret them within a broader portfolio architecture, assessing their impact on the overall risk profile, their alignment with investment objectives, and their long-term sustainability.

In this context, certificates and AMCs should not be viewed merely as operational tools, but as integral components of modern portfolio construction, where the quality of implementation, process discipline, and the ability to interpret market dynamics are key.

Sources:

• Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA), Swiss Structured Product Industry Report Q4 2024;

• European Structured Investment Products Association (EUSIPA), Market Statistics 2024;

• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Costs and Performance Report;

• Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Structured Products Guidance 2024.