Bucking the trend

Unlike most US distributors, Foldes Financial Management has serviced its high-net-worth clients by avoiding the main staples of reverse convertibles and principal-protected notes, with the aim of providing a low-risk and tax-efficient means of managing their wealth. Sophia Morrell reports

The US structured products market has long been dominated by reverse convertibles, which have been a perfect match for the typical investor's passion for equities. But Miami-based Foldes Financial Management (FFM) has avoided the products entirely. "We haven't done any reverse convertibles," says Tom Balcom, investment adviser at FFM. "We don't use them internally as a firm because they are more like a single stock. Granted, there are some nice yields there, but we are focusing more on the broad