Indexes
Funds find favour
Funds are the structure of choice this year, as the exchange-traded funds business grows and structured product houses look for fund solutions. But the fund industry has its limitations, not least because of the complexity of structuring and the expense…
S&P 500 index licensed to European ETF providers
Standard & Poor’s has opened its benchmark US index, the S&P 500, to seven exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers in Europe, meeting demand from a range of investors to be able to invest in US equities as the market recovers from recession.
FTSE targets UK pensions industry with defined contribution index
FTSE has created an index to help asset managers and retail investors navigate the pensions market. The index provider has partnered with London-based data services firm Pension DCisions to create the first benchmark for the UK’s defined contributions…
Optimism for property derivatives
Despite massive global real estate losses, the property derivatives market has been largely ignored, with trading activity focused almost exclusively in the UK. What are the prospects for growth in the asset class? By Peter Madigan
A return to domestic inflation
Activity in Europe’s domestic inflation derivatives markets dropped away after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Now, dealers report buyers and sellers are starting to return. But there is likely to be less warehousing of risk by banks and a greater focus…
Solving the problem of inflation measures
With fears about future inflation still plaguing investors, inflation-linked products may seem like a sensible way of hedging against the rising cost of living. But the effect of substitution, interest rate rises and timing mean that returns on these…
The benefits of art investing
Alternative investments are tipped to outperform conventional financial offerings this year, leading to a rapid rise in the number of indexes based on art, as well as increasing interest from fund managers. Randall Willette, managing director at Fine Art…
Exchange of the Year
Structured Products Americas Awards 2010
Second-hand values
The demand for transparency and liquidity makes trading in and out of a structured product extremely attractive to investors. This has resulted in healthy secondary markets across Europe, so why has the UK been so slow to emulate its continental…
The call and collateralisation
Citi is providing an open-ended structured fund linked to the FTSE 100 index. Investments in the Autocall Fund mature when kickout occurs or when a five-year cycle is completed, and proceeds are reinvested on kickout. The fund is fully collateralised…
Product performance
Comparing principal-protected, accelerated growth and reverse convertible products with September 2009 strike dates
ETF Securities launches commodity index tracker fund
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and currency specialist ETF Securities has launched the first ETF to track the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Three-Month Forward Index (DJ-UBSCI F3(SM)), following growing investor demand for diversified commodity related products.