Feature/Foreign exchange
Equity income boosted with new fund from Insight
Insight Investment, the UK-based fund manager, has launched a new equity fund with a derivative overlay to boost returns. The Equity Income Booster Fund targets an annual yield of 8%, using a call option overlay to help achieve its return and reduce…
Geithner proposes systemic risk US super regulator
Editor's blog
Lyxor launches gold ETN
Lyxor Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Société Générale (SG) has launched its first exchange-traded note (ETN), the Lyxor ETN Long Gold, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The note is designed to track, in real time, the…
US Wrap: Goldman Sachs offers leveraged note
Goldman Sachs has launched a leveraged buffered equity note linked to the S&P 500 index, on what has been a quiet day for US issuance after yesterday's flurry of reverse convertible launches. Morgan Stanley, the only other issuer to place a trade, has…
US Wrap: Royal Bank of Canada unleashes 20 new reverse convertibles
Royal Bank of Canada rushed into the issuance market last Friday with the release of 20 reverse convertibles, based on the fortunes of a whole range US stocks, from General Electric to Google and including the bold move of relating products to financials…
US Wrap: Barclays continues reverse convertible momentum
Issuance surged in the US market yesterday as Barclays launched 22 reverse convertible notes, adding to the eight it launched yesterday. The new products represent a turnaround for the market, with total issuance for the week now at 55, already double…
UBS names new Asia heads as Park and Pang depart
UBS has announced a series of appointments to the most senior roles in its equity derivatives business in Asia. The changes, which were announced this morning in Hong Kong coincide with the departure of Min Park, managing director, head of Equity Risk…
US Wrap: Barclays and ABN pile into reverse convertibles
Barclays Bank and ABN Amro bombarded the US market with reverse convertible notes yesterday, launching 20 of the products between them. It was ABN's first appearance of the week, and its first significant swathe of issuance since mid-February. It…
US Wrap: Market snaps into action to kickstart week
The US market sprang to life yesterday, offering 10 new products, the majority of which were reverse convertibles, with Barclays Bank using the structure to give investors exposure to three different commodities: gold, silver and oil, each represented by…
Arc looks East with Russian product
Arc Capital and Income has unveiled a new product for UK investors linked to Russian companies trading on the London Stock Exchange. The product began as a bespoke offer for advisory firms and is now being rolled out to retail clients with a minimum…
Stimulus targets US transmission issues
Obama's stimulus plan will put key infrastructure in place to support the continued growth of renewable energy in the US, finds Pauline McCallion
Dow Jones offers South Asian Federation indexes
Index provider Dow Jones Indexes and the South Asian Federation of Exchanges (Safe) have launched the Dow Jones Safe 100 Index and the Dow Jones Safe Pakistan Index, which measure the performance of blue-chip companies in five of the eight member states…
SunTrust broadens exposure with deposit product
SunTrust Bank has launched a certificate of deposit (CD) for US investors which offers exposure to a World Basket of US, Japanese and European equity indexes. The five-year CDs pay a minimum fixed return of 3% at maturity, plus 100% of initial investor…
Single Family Offices reduce equities, increase cash, and ETF education
Education will increase the allocation that family offices in Europe make to structured products and exchange traded funds (ETFs), says Gary Dugan, chief investment officer EMEA of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Bruce Love of Campden Research…
US Wrap: Equity bulls come out in force with growth structures
Accelerated growth products were the only structures to be launched in the US market yesterday, linking to both international and domestic equity. International exposure was provided by two products linked to the iShares MSCI Eafe Index fund. It was…
Boillereau takes over cash FX at HSBC as Brown departs
Frederic Boillereau, global head of foreign exchange and metals at HSBC in London has added cash FX to his responsibilities. Andrew Brown, global head of FX and a nine-year veteran of the bank, has left the bank. Boillereau's new role will bring together…
Islamic exchange traded gold tracker launched in Dubai
Dubai Gold Securities, a limited liability partnership formed in January 2009 between the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre Authority and Dubai Commodity Asset Management, has launched the sharia-compliant gold security, an exchange traded commodity security…
Casam lists 11 new ETFs as issuance accelerates
Credit Agricole Structured Asset Management (Casam) has listed 11 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) covering different sectors in Europe, Eastern Europe, broad European equity exposure and two Asian markets.
SG offers yen warrants to UK retail investors
Société Générale has listed 10 new FX-linked covered warrants on the London Stock Exchange. The warrants fluctuate in value according to the exchange rate between either the Japanese yen against sterling, or against the US dollar.
US Wrap: Reverse convertibles hold sway as underlying scope widens
Reverse convertibles dominated US issuance on Friday, as did Barclays Bank, which issued 13 of the notes. Alongside the usual smattering of energy companies, two gold producers were included - a different perspective from investing in the precious metal…
Barcap offers new accounts for offshore bond series
Barclays Capital has launched two new structured deposit accounts for its offshore bond series: the three-year guaranteed digital and the five-year guaranteed FTSE 100 deposit accounts. The accounts are designed exclusively for use within offshore bonds…
Adapt or fail
Since October last year, extreme movements in South Africa's foreign exchange rate have caused offshore hedge funds to exit the market, while dealers have been reluctant to take on risk. Those that remain active have had to adapt their behaviour. By Mark…