A Hong Kong-based messaging network for equity-linked structured products is about to go live and has named a head of operations.

A banking industry-backed messaging network for equity-linked structured products has appointed a head of operations.

Contineo, which is headqartered in Hong Kong, appointed Julie Chen to the post. She was most recently a senior consultant for Kurt Salmon, the management consultancy, in Paris and Hong Kong, leading financial technology projects for large financial institutions, Contineo said in a statement. 

The firm said it is finalising plans to go live later in June with its current subscribers.

Contineo says it is the first industry-supported, open messaging network for private banks and wealth management firms to access issuers of structured products. According to its website, supporting financial institutions are AG|Delta, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan and Societe Generale.

The Contineo offering aims to provide standardised connectivity between the buy-side and sell-side using what is called a financial information exchange protocol and RESTful web service API (application programming interface). The service is aimed at execution desks, advisory desks and relationship managers of private banks and wealth management firms; other structured product issuers can use the APIs, and third party technology companies can certify to access the network.