GoldRepublic and Nxchange

NEXT GENERATION CAPITAL MARKETS Interview with Marleen Evertsz, founder of GoldRepublic and Nxchange

A nerd – that’s how Marleen Evertsz would describe herself. ‘I love to spend all day on developing innovative fintech applications. That’s what gives me the greatest satisfaction. There is such amazing technology available and development is going so fast. Combining that with our existing regulatory framework creates endless solutions.’

MARLEEN EVERTSZ

SAFE INVESTMENTS That’s what Evertsz did in 2010 with GoldRepublic. She made it possible for anyone to invest in physical gold. ‘Of course, you can go to any bank to buy, and invest in gold, but 99% of the banks can’t allocate a bar number to you. This means that you are not the owner of a physical bar, but that you are owner of a pool of gold that is on the balance sheet of a third party.’, says Evertsz.‘ ‘This has a whole different risk level and is not transparent. My main reason for starting GoldRepublic was what we all learned after 2008: that safe investments aren’t that safe after all. I wanted to buy and own the physical asset – in this case gold – and store it in a vault somewhere, outside of the financial system. After all, you buy gold for when things go wrong.’ This philosophy helped GoldRepublic to become the first ever provider of precious metals to be licensed by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, in 2010.

ACCESSIBILITY After the launch and success of GoldRepublic, Evertsz kept thinking about how she could develop financial products more accessible to the broader public. That’s when Evertsz decided to establish the fully regulated digital exchange named Nxchange. Nxchange is based on the same principle as GoldRepublic, but with a wide array of products in which people can invest. Evertsz explains: ‘We are constantly working on how we can finance products and projects in such a way that it fits within the investment mandate of the

institutional investors, and at the same time offer the investment opportunity to the broader public.’

An example is the issuance of two green bonds on Nxchange, whereby fourteen solar parks are financed. The total issue amount is Eur 22 mln. The largest part of this issuance will be financed by an institutional investor and a small amount will be offered to retail investors, which, according to Evertsz, is a typical Nxchange investment opportunity.

FUTURE PLANS Sustainability is paramount at Nxchange. I think we’re able to make a very interesting contribution in the future of financing sustainable projects.’

Investments in sustainability often concerns new technology or new companies. It is precisely by using our platforms, permits and creativity that we can come up with something to finance difficult, but necessary projects in sustainability. Then offer these new financing structures to investors and make them as accessible as possible. Arranging everything down to the last detail. That’s what I love,” says Evertsz with an enthusiastic smile.

‘Of course, I’m pleased and it’s great when it’s all up and running. But it’s the way to that point that interests me the most. By the time we pop the champagne, and celebrate with our team when we have reached our goals, I can’t help but being with my head in the next upcoming challenge.’ GOLDREPUBLIC +31 (0)20 794 60 21 www.goldrepublic.nl

NXCHANGE www.nxchange.com +31 (0)20 240 43 60

Herengracht 450 1017 CA Amsterdam