When can shareholders expect a resumption of payouts?

We are not able at the moment to give a firm date. We of course want to keep our stake and shareholders happy and will do our best to meet the wish for dividends in the future.

The mood at Leonteq seems to have become a lot more sober, don’t you think?

I believe our business is sound. We are extremely well positioned after today’s move. Of course we want to win more clients as partners.

Earlier the partnership was too aggressively communicated. Have you learned from this?

The question shouldn’t be, is the communication of cooperation partners good news, but rather what value does it bring our client.

«I visited all our Asian offices last week and am optimistic on the outlook there»

When we achieve this added-value, then we will sooner or later reach our growth targets. We are happy to be measured by tangible results.

Apropo: What tangible news is there out of Asia? 

I visited all our Asian offices last week and am optimistic on the outlook there. I think we have a lot to offer our clients there. As in all regions, there will be good and bad half-years, but the medium-term trend is intact.

Does Raiffeisen's plan to reduce its stake in Leonteq to 20 percent cause you concern, given your cooperation with the bank?

Absolutely not. Raiffeisen as a shareholder can decide itself which share holding is the right one.

«We're not worried about Raiffeisen reducing»

We know: where Raiffeisen has in the past 18 months sold share stakes, the bank group has in fact strengthened cooperation with its partners.

You said today you are happy despite the capital increase and weak share price. Why is that?

At Leonteq we can be satisfied that we have the trust of so many clients and cooperation partners. So we can face the future with a degree of optimism.


Lukas Ruflin took the helm of Leonteq, the firm he co-founded and owns just over 8 percent of, in May. Before co-founding Leonteq in 2007, the 43-year-old banker was deputy finance chief at EFG International, the Swiss private bank which spawned the derivatives boutique. Ruflin is a economics graduate of St. Gallen's prestigious university. Prior to EFG, he worked for J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, and PwC.