Targeting retail investors

Many of Asia’s structured products providers have moved seemingly en masse to equity target redemption notes, although the 10-year maturity on many of these funds may prove something of an impediment for some investors, writes Nick Sawyer

Asia’s structured products market is often a game of follow-the-leader – no sooner does one house launch a product than everyone else follows suit, often within weeks, sometimes within days. It’s been a bit like that in Asia’s retail investor market over the past few months. Suddenly everyone’s working on equity target redemption notes, seen as a way of offering investors high headline returns, good participation in rising equity markets and a maturity potentially as short as two years.

So what