Structured products
WHAT IS THIS? Structured products are investments that have multiple components. For retail investors, the most common form is a bond plus an option – these tend to be standardised, sold in small tickets and large volumes. Managing the risks of large structured products portfolios is one of the biggest challenges dealers face.
Hong Kong structured product providers warm to ‘cooling off’ period
New SFC rules will also force dealers to offer secondary pricing
Investors keep options open with floored and collared FRNs, RBC
Floored and capped floating-rate notes have become increasingly popular with investors seeking low-risk investments.
Education and simplicity key to Netherlands market recovery
Investors in the Netherlands are still wary of structured products. A return to simple products and boost in educational efforts is needed to overcome this, according to bankers at Structured Products' conference for the Benelux region in Amsterdam
S&P 500 benchmarked assets reach $4.83 trillion
Standard & Poor's survey shows large gains in assets benchmarked against its indexes
US wrap: Issuance volumes soar with focus on Barclays reverse convertibles
The US market has picked up at the end of an otherwise modest week. Barclays leads the issuance with its reverse convertibles based on the financial sector
Moody’s widens op risk definition for securitisation
Ratings agency breaks down boundaries of counterparty, credit and liquidity risk
US investors still sensitive to counterparty risk
Counterparty risk remains a dominant theme for US investors, who are keen to analyse issuer credit ratings and credit default swap levels before buying a structured product. Richard Jory asks senior US industry figures how attitudes to counterparty…
Market snapshot
Tim Mortimer of Future Value Consultants reviews the product preferences in the US and UK structured products markets
Conservatism still reigns in wake of crisis
The private banking division of Credit Suisse is still seeing the impact of the financial crisis on its investors’ requirements. Fixed-income structured products remain popular but the low interest rate environment is still affecting the types of…
Barrier remains intact
The 50% barrier in the Investec Capital Protected FTSE 100 Income Plan 1 has remained in place since the launch of the product last year. Those opting for monthly or quarterly payments will have received their coupons, and the same looks likely for those…
Trade of the month: Secondary pricing and fair value
As with any competitive market, fee levels are influenced to a large degree by the market, since a product cannot normally hide high fees and appear competitive.