Structured Products/Review
Product review: A Goldman Sachs long player
Goldman Sachs is offering US investors a long play on the S&P 500 as well as some regular coupon income. The annual coupon and long product term provide a considerable buffer before capital is lost. Returns are uncapped, but the eight-year and seven…
Product review: Nordea taps Chinese growth
Nordea Bank in Finland is offering a structured product with exposure to a relatively unusual underlying. The capital-protected, potential growth product is linked to a basket of 10 Chinese companies
Product review: Dunbar Bank's FTSE 100 basket
The unrated Dunbar Bank is offering UK investors a five-year, capital-protected growth product linked to 15 of the largest companies in the FTSE 100. A minimum return is on offer and growth can be locked in at each annual anniversaries
Volatility capped access to funds
ING Bank is offering Swedish investors a product that has the classic benefits of allowing access to an unusual and potentially risky underlying while changing its return profile. The product is based on the East Capital Russia Fund, giving local…
Dutch Trigger
Van Lanschot has issued five-year trigger notes based on the AEX index of the 25 most-traded Dutch stocks. The product offers a minimum of 10% per annum on potential early maturity, although capital is not protected if the 50% barrier is breached at the…
The call and collateralisation
Citi is providing an open-ended structured fund linked to the FTSE 100 index. Investments in the Autocall Fund mature when kickout occurs or when a five-year cycle is completed, and proceeds are reinvested on kickout. The fund is fully collateralised…
Accelerated returns
Morgan Stanley is offering the potential of accelerated returns with an investment in a six-year FTSE 100-linked growth product. The maximum payout is 80% of the initial investment, although capital is at risk
Fast Asian kickout
UBS recently offered investors in Hong Kong the opportunity to invest against the iShares FTSE/Xinhua A50 China Tracker Fund. Capital would have been at risk had the three-month product not kicked out after the first month
Product review: protecting the downside
A six-year growth product from Blue Sky Asset Management that is relatively complex for retail investors. The product links to the FTSE 100 and gives accumulated returns up to an annual cap of 12%
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
All four one
MSS Investments has enlisted the Swedish Export Credit Corporation as issuer of a six-year capped growth product linked to the performance of a basket of global indexes based on infrastructure, equities, fixed income and emerging markets
Sixteen again
Arc is offering a sterling-denominated play on emerging markets - specifically the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund ETF and Hang Seng China Enterprise Index - which promises returns of 16% for each year of its five-year term if no kickout occurs
Autocalling China
Morgan Stanley has produced a two-year autocallable linked to the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund with a 10% buffer. Increases above the target level are not passed onto the investor
Product performance
Products with strike dates in January and weekly valuations are reviewed this month
Nordic horizons
Markets in the Nordic region have been far from immune from the troubles that have hit structured products across Europe. But speakers and delegates at the Structured Products Nordic Region conference spoke of light on the horizon - despite the pressing…
Small buffer in a big market
JP Morgan issued a dual directional straddle product with a 10% buffer just over a year ago. Relying on nothing more than a slight fall in equity markets over the past 12 months has proved an easy way to erode capital
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