Entropics to distribute cat bond fund through Avanza Bank

Entropics Asset Management AB, the first Swedish insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bond fund manager, has signed a distribution agreement for its catastrophe bond fund’s retail share class with Avanza Bank.

Avanza Bank, a Swedish online bank with 130,000 customers and savings under management totaling SEK 140 billion (approximately $16.5 billion), is the largest online bank and stock broker in Sweden.

Avanza is the second retail distributor that Entropics has signed up with. Earlier this month the asset manager announced that its SEF Entropics Cat Bond Fund, the catastrophe bond focused investment strategy to be launched in the Scandinavian region, was available to retail investors through Swedish online bank Nordnet.

Robert Lindblom, Entropics CEO, told Artemis; “We see a strong interest from retail consumers through both Nordnet and Avanza and we have also received several inquiries from customers in other banks. The present discussion on when and whether the stock market will peak spurs interest in uncorrelated assets.”

The SEF Entropics Cat Bond Fund is a UCITS fund structure, allowing it to be offered to retail investors through an appropriate share class. Entropics sees opportunities to bring the catastrophe bond asset class to more retail type investors through these distribution partnerships.