Structured Products Americas Awards 2017: the winners

JP Morgan named top North American house, BBVA wins in Latin America

Low interest rates and low volatility have turned the structured products market into a barren landscape. With political risk increasing across the Americas, from Brazil to the US, the election of President Trump injected a firm sense of direction for the latter half of 2016 in the US at least.

The winners of this year’s Structured Products Americas Awards have ridden out these tough market conditions, supporting a range of business models and customer bases. If there is a common theme throughout their successes, it has been that grit and depth of knowledge can engender trust – even when confidence in the market is shaky – with more than a smattering of technology smarts.

Major victories have been won by JP Morgan as North America house of the year, deal of the year and index provider of the year. Although the bank has scale, it has not succeeded through brute force; digging for opportunity in the development of qualified replacement property-eligible notes and growing its index business, which rolled out 300 indexes last year, has driven growth. Investing in its back end has given it that capacity.

Barclays’ dominance in the structured rates space has reflected the importance of its close relationships with structured product clients, which have allowed it to respond quickly to demand in an informed and effective way. As our institutional structurer of the year, the bank has made great use of information and technology via its Barx platform.

To take the Latin America house of the year, BBVA found the opportunities that existed in a highly uncertain market for investors, seeking out a range of options for the buy side while making good use of its global network to match appetite with demand. It was an eye for the bigger picture and an ear to the ground for client rumblings that took the bank ahead of its peers.

BNP Paribas, meanwhile, found itself in the enviable position of taking requests. Supporting fintech providers via its Smart Derivatives platform demonstrates the inestimable value that investing in technology for the future can bring. As winner of the award for technology provider of the year (bank), it has repeatedly shown that strong IT foundations build a resilient business.

Numerix took the award for both technology provider of the year (vendor) and pricing and analytics platform of the year, having built out a deep level of data and analytics, plus the capacity to support electronic market-making in the structured products space.

The “revolutionary” Equity Investor Marketplace helped to push UBS into the winning spot as retail house of the year, processing compliant trades worth millions of dollars to the retail market in only minutes. Speed, efficiency and consistency marked the bank out from its competitors.

No less consistent is Davis Polk, law firm of the year, which has been at the heart of dealers’ market discussions and showed expertise that reaches across every element of the structured product ecosystem. Like BNP Paribas, the firm has worked with issuers and newer fintech firms alike, keeping the market fresh and driving evolution.

Given such an arid environment, the winners of this year’s awards have demonstrated that the structured products market can be both fertile and verdant with the right care and attention.

Congratulations to all of the 2017 winners, please see the full list below:

North America house of the year: JP Morgan

Latin America house of the year: BBVA

Retail structurer of the year: UBS

Institutional structurer of the year: Barclays

Deal of the year: JP Morgan

Index provider of the year: JP Morgan

Technology provider (bank) of the year: BNP Paribas

Technology provider of the year (vendor); Pricing and analytics platform of the year: Numerix

Law firm of the year: Davis Polk