Structured products
Product performance
Data
More speed, more efficiency
Banks are increasingly aware of the speed and efficiency that is required to process data when creating and dealing in structured products. Calls for transparency and liquidity mean it is vital to choose systems that can cope with the products'…
'X' marks the spot
In a little over two years, DB x-trackers has captured an impressive 17% share of Europe's ETF market. With an existing portfolio of more than 100 products, the provider now plans to expand its offering in Asia while developing new product types such as…
The trace race
The concept of traceability has been a great success in the food industry. Would its adoption by the structured products industry be the quickest way to restore confidence in European markets and help a shattered banking sector? Participants at last…
US stock pick
Product Reviews
Preaching protection
Continuing a series of interviews with national regulators about structured products, we talk to Maria Jose Gomez Yubero, head of investor protection at the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores, about the fallout from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy,…
Pricing options on film revenue
This article illustrates two models for cumulative revenues from films, a time-changed gamma process and a compound Poisson process, and how these models can be used to price options. Don Chance, Eric Hillebrand and Jimmy Hilliard find that while both…
Liquidity attracts investors to forex markets
Investors are increasingly turning to foreign exchange markets in search of liquidity and diversity, bankers say.
Barclays reissues target growth plan
Barclays Wealth has reissued the Target Growth Plan, which is designed to provide exposure to the FTSE 100 index and offers a potential return of 50% at maturity. Barclays aims to raise £5-10 million on the plan.
Dow Jones launches recovery play index
Dow Jones has launched a new index of US companies which are expected to benefit from measures implemented by the government to aid economic recovery. The Dow Jones US Economic Stimulus Index includes 50 of the largest and most liquid companies from six…
US Wrap: Scope broadens for growth products
Accelerated growth products using four different underlyings were launched by three different issuers into the US market yesterday. The new products included leveraged participation in the iShares MSCI Eafe (international equity) index fund, and the…
CEBS: bank disclosures lack detail
The level of disclosure in the 2008 annual reports of major banks was better than the preceding year, but there is still much room for improvement, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (Cebs) said on May 28.
SEC charges brokers with CMO fraud
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged 10 brokers from California-based Brookstreet Securities - a now-defunct broker-dealer - with fraud for mis-representing the risks involved in collateralised mortgage obligations (CMO) to…
LCH.Clearnet to offer SwapClear to the buy side
London-based clearing house LCH.Clearnet discusses with Risk its plans to make the SwapClear over-the-counter interest rate swaps clearing platform available to buy-side clients in the fourth quarter of this year.
Sheikh Yamani: Saudi Arabia unlikely to embrace oil futures
In an interview this week, former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Yamani told Energy Risk that futures trading on exchanges had turned the global crude oil market into a "casino".
PPIP banks may be able to buy rivals' toxic assets
The US Treasury's behind-schedule Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) could face difficulty in attracting banks to participate in the scheme, while policymakers are considering whether to allow banks to buy each other's assets.