Structured products
Leading lights
As Structured Products magazine celebrates its fifth anniversary, the time is right to take a look back a mere 15-20 years to when it all began, and to interview a selection of 10 pioneers who created and fostered the business from its European…
The KIS of life?
Keydata Investment Services was placed into a speedy administration by the UK's Financial Services Authority on June 8 on the grounds of insolvency. All new business was suspended and a temporary suspension of payments on policies was imposed by the UK…
Product performance
The three products reviewed this month are a principal-protected note, an accelerated growth product and a reverse convertible
Combining CDSs and equities
Duggan Asset Management is offering exposure to equity and credit markets with its new capital-protected simple growth product. As well as access to an unusual asset class - credit default swaps - participation is linked to the DJ Eurostoxx 50
Five years and six options
Barclays Bank has issued a five-year product that allows investors to choose the level of protection required and achieve a higher participation rate if they opt for a lower level. Each of six versions of the product has an option on the FTSE 100
The comeback kids
Last year's double whammy of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, which trapped investors' money in the defunct bank, and accumulators, where investors were caught going long when the stock market plunged, almost killed off structured products. But as the…
Targeting inflation
Inflation expectations might be all over the place, but that has not stopped dealers trying to sell inflation-linked structured products. John Ferry looks at what is on offer from an asset class that has always been trickier than others for structured…
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National participation
National Bank Financial in Canada hopes a new generation of exchange-traded funds, which break new ground in the way the products work, will prove as popular as leveraged ETFs and propel the bank to another successful year
Commercial property plays
Morgan Stanley surprised many people in July 2008 when it plumped for a commercial property-based product. With lower volatility than was on offer from the FTSE 100, it made for a relatively generous offer of returns that took 65% of the starting level…
Delighted with deposits
Newcastle Building Society has been gradually building up its structured deposit business, including the launch of a new intermediary services arm in 2008. With the FTSE 100 index climbing and deposits backed by the government, the society is right to be…