Treading carefully

Last year's uninspiring performance by hedge funds has pushed high-net-worth investors towards venture capital and private equity. A handful of investment banks now offer access to those markets through structured products, but others remain cautious about developing such offerings

Hedge funds and hedge funds indexes have dominated the alternative investment arena as underlyings for structured products. But as the industry is generally felt to have produced lacklustre results last year, high-net-worth investors are now looking to other asset classes in the hope of better returns for the structured products component of their portfolios.

Some investment banks and private banks are noticing high-net-worth investors' interest in derivatives-based investments linked to private