Structured Products - Volume 6/Number 1
Articles in this issue
Corporate statement: Rise of the clone
Focus on replication strategies has increased significantly over the course of 2009. In this article, Citi explains the practical applications of the Hybrid Absolute Return Portfolio index and how investors can benefit from using this investment strategy
The road to high yield
The low-risk arbitrage opportunities found in the institutional structured products market this year may not be so common in 2010. Instead, more stable financial markets are expected to herald the return of product lines that can deliver extra yield
Patently challenging
Financial products have long been marginalised in the intellectual property world, and providers have sought to distinguish themselves on being the first with their innovations. While it is getting harder for financial products to win patents, as ETFs…
Suspicious minds
While Canada has been far from immune to market woes, one saving grace was the absence of Lehman Brothers-backed product among retail clients. Now the future lies in scrupulous attention to sales processes, the rise of exchange-traded funds and lessons…
Market snapshot
Tim Mortimer of Future Value Consultants looks at the pricing issues for structured products in different markets and provides his trade of the month
Product performance
We compare principal-protected, accelerated growth and reverse convertible products with April 2009 strike dates
Big risk in Japan
RBS issued a one-year income product linked to five Japanese stocks in March 2008, paying 3% interest plus a variable capital repayment. Three of the stocks fell through their barriers, putting capital at risk and making for a capital return of only 39%
A choice of credit ratings
Investors can choose between a Triple B and a Single A rated bank issuer in this five-year rollover plan, and receive different coupon payments on the basis of this choice as long as index levels at the product’s anniversaries are above the strike level
Lookback
An irreverent look at the events of the past month
Regulators and accumulators
Asian economies have suffered less from the global financial downturn than they did during the regional crisis of 1997. Risk levels are now lower, while the money that has been accumulated after more than 10 years of extraordinary wealth creation is back
