mwb manages about 40,000 order books for German and international securities. These include equities, fixed income securities and open-ended investment funds. This places us amongst the top five order book management firms in Germany - making us a vital stabilising factor on the exchanges. A great responsibility, of which we are always mindful.
Our specialists work at the Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Hanover and Berlin Stock Exchanges as well as the Tradegate Exchange. They manage securities in the Regulated Market and the Open Market, where they quote bid and ask prices, thus functioning as a liquidity provider. This means that when the trading volume of securities falls short or there is a risk of a price imbalance due to excessive price shifts, our order book managers leap to action, either buying or selling on their own account. This control function enables mwb to ensure orderly trading - combining state-of-the-art technology with human experience and judgement.
8.947 equities order books | 23.014 fixed income order books | 9.247 funds order books |
Few investors are aware that, much like equities, funds are also traded on the stock exchange. Oliver Wetekamp and Stefan Wildner, Head of Fund Trading at mwb, discuss the advantages of trading funds on the stock exchange.
Mr Wetekamp, Mr Wildner, investors normally buy their fund units from their principal bank and pay a front-end load. How is this different to buying on the stock exchange?
Wetekamp: In this case, too, the orders also go via the client's principal bank or online bank, although the front-end load is waived. Another difference is speed: buying directly on the stock exchange only takes a few seconds.
Are there any other advantages?
Wildner: There is greater transparency since the customer can check the current bid and offer prices at their bank. This means they can find out in real-time what price they have to pay and what price they will receive from selling. In addition, as with equities, they can issue a stop-loss order. This means that the fund unit is automatically sold if it falls beneath a certain value.
Given that there are so many advantages, why is this type of investment not the talk of the town?
Wetekamp: This is because it's still a relatively new type of investment model. Trading funds on the stock exchange has only been an option since 2002. mwb was one of the pioneers in this area. We started with just a handful of funds and now manage more than 4,000 open-ended investment funds at four trading venues in Germany.
Which trading venues?
Wildner: We manage fund order books on the Hamburg and Munich Stock Exchanges as well as on the Tradegate Exchange in Berlin. One exception is the funds service on the Hanover Stock Exchange, where no variable trading takes place. This means that the customer buys funds at the redemption price and a fixed fee.
Looking at the number of funds managed by you, it would seem that this segment has taken the world by storm.
Wetekamp: Yes, considering it's only been 15 years... However, at the beginning we had to do a lot of convincing and the potential is still far from being exhausted today. With a trading volume of roughly EUR 170 million a month, we are certainly one of the largest brokers in this segment by turnover.
What is the secret to this success?
Wildner: The fund companies appreciate that we offer them an easy additional distribution channel. Many of them consider it a mark of quality that they are also exchange-tradable. They know that when they work with mwb they have a reliable partner at the technological edge. We use a tried and tested calculation tool that quotes market prices in real time - continuously from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
In wholly practical terms, how does the investment process work? What are the individual steps?
Wetekamp: Investors need only go to their bank and say that they would like to buy a certain fund at a certain venue. The bank then sends us the order to carry out the transaction. We don't see ourselves as competing against principal banks or online brokers, but rather as partners who can expand their service range.
What does the future have in store for exchange-traded funds?
Wildner: The trend is clearly heading in this direction. I think this distribution channel will grow even further once the fund companies become more aggressive in advertising their presence on the market than they have to date.
Wetekamp: This goes for the banks, too. The more they see this distribution channel as a sensible alternative, the more it will be accepted by customers.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us!