Index providers interview

In the first of a series of interviews with the index providers on which much of the structured products business is based, Richard Jory and Matt Cameron talk to Standard & Poor's Eudald Canadell, managing director for Index Services Europe, and Christopher O'Brien, vice-president of marketing and sales for Europe and Asia, about creating indexes and forging a global community

Q: What types of index tend to be the most popular in the creation of structured products?

A: It really depends on where we are in the market and what the market cycles represent. We have focused on the emerging markets, geographical exposure slices, the regrouping of geographies and what the market would call 'very sexy, marketable' structured products, such as the Bric countries. Because of the turmoil we have seen in the markets over the past four months, product issuers are looking