Structured products
Between volatility and variance
Banks and investors were hammered on short single-stock variance positions during the financial crisis, leading many dealers to withdraw from the variance swap market. The alternative that some have reverted to is the volatility swap, although this has…
Second-hand values
The demand for transparency and liquidity makes trading in and out of a structured product extremely attractive to investors. This has resulted in healthy secondary markets across Europe, so why has the UK been so slow to emulate its continental…
Simply does it
Structured products have been used as a scapegoat for some of the problems that led to the financial crisis. But Cater Allen, the UK private banking arm of Santander, says transparent products can regain investors’ confidence. Clare Dickinson reports