Falling for fashion

Banks operating in Italy need to develop a better understanding of the assets that they are selling as well as keep an open mind to ensure that they can adapt quickly to what has re-emerged as a dynamic market for structured products. Richard Jory reports from the Structured Products Italia conference in Milan

Banks should develop a better understanding of the content of assets to give more coherence to maturities, payoffs and underlyings, said Luca Pieroni, partner at Milan-based DGPA Advisory group, at the Structured Products Italia event on October 18-19. This was one of Pieroni's conclusions after a speech in which he introduced research he has completed on missing assets and so-called 'fashion victims'. "Investors should develop the same know-how," he said. "There are too many quantitative and