This year has been eventful and full of uncertainty for the country’s structured deposits and notes as a series of regulatory guidelines aimed at curbing market risk gradually take effect.

“It feels like we’re standing at the crossroads,” said a senior banker at a large commercial bank. The issuance of structured deposits in China has dropped by nearly 50% to 3,655 year-to-date (YTD) compared with 2019 while the issuance of structured notes also nosedived to 397 from 2,433 during the same period. China Merchants Bank has become the top distributor in the country with 1,165 products YTD, of which 802 are structured deposits and 363 structured notes with a tota