UK structured products stuck on repeat

Forever the same? The UK is seeing little product innovation

The second half of August has been marked by a flurry of familiar structures in the UK market, a sign of continued caution given the uncertain market sentiment and lack of demand for anything exotic.

"We are seeing repeats of products for two reasons," says Graham Devile, managing director at Meteor Asset Management in London. "One is that that the pricing environment is still a difficult place in which to produce decent payoffs and, second, demand is still not there for exotic, swanky products.