A fistful of dollars

Mexico's retail structured products investors are venturing back into the market after a barren end to 2008, with short-dated forex-linked trades proving popular. Actinver has been first to meet the demand and is ready to provide commodity and equity-linked products when investors decide to diversify. Matt Cameron reports

"The structured products market is far from dead," says Ralph Cope, head of derivatives trading at Mexico City-based brokerage house Actinver. "We have seen a lot more demand recently than in the last few months of 2008. Most investors are concentrating on the exchange rate and are looking to put cash into foreign exchange-linked trades. In Mexico, almost everyone follows the exchange rate between the peso and the US dollar, and every bank on the street displays the rate on its window. So