Taking the pulse of Benelux structured products

The past few years have seen the structured products market suffer in Benelux countries. But Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have all performed differently owing to their underlying themes: black-box structures in Belgium, underlyings in the Dutch market, and tailor-made solutions in Luxembourg. By Magda Ali

Representing more than €10 billion of annual cash flow, the Belgian structured products market is larger than those in neighbouring Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and while it was as badly hit as anywhere else by the financial crisis, something of a revival is underway. One major development has been the growing acceptance of note issuance in preference to funds platforms, as larger banks make the switch to launching all coupon-based products in a note format.

"In terms of asset raising, the