In the current low interest rate environment, many people, not least the ever-increasing number who are retired, are looking for ways in which to generate a ‘meaningful’ level of income. While the high-street banks and building societies… Read More »
Just over 90 per cent of Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) said that they use structured investment products to provide clients with capital protection, a survey by Structured Products magazine revealed in August 2009. Nevertheless, caution preva… Read More »
Barclays Wealth director Colin Dickie explains which structured products are the most popular in the current climate. Like many other structured product providers they have benefited from market conditions that have reduced the appeal of investments… Read More »
Guaranteeing investors’ capital with their own bonds has always been a convenient way for banks to borrow money from investors at the same time as offering them a cut in the upside of the chosen underlying in a structured note. The importance o… Read More »
Structured Products face a number of challenges in the current environment of tighter credit conditions and elevated volatility. As volatility has increased so too has the cost of derivatives. It is now more expensive to buy an option on an underlyin… Read More »
Barclays Wealth launched its first mining themed structured product for investors wanting to position themselves for an economic recovery. The Mining Stocks Supertracker gives exposure an equally weighted basket of mining stocks with 400% participation, subject to a maximum return of 100%.
Victor Sperandeo, chief executive officer of Enhanced Alpha Management and the Royal Bank of Scotland have partnered to launch a new long short strategy index designed to deliver absolute returns. The Trader Vic Index (TVI) is a managed futures index based on commodities, rates and currencies, and is intended to be negatively correlated to the performance of equities and credit.
On May 28, the Wall Street Journal published an article critical of structured products, particularly once-popular US reverse convertibles, for not providing investors protection and being costly. The article highlights falling sales of US structured… Read More »
