Global Prime Partners' has launched a structured products division following the appointment of Mike Ward (pictured) in October 2016 to head new business development at the firm.
The new division will be headed by Ward and his new team, Matt Robinson - head of structured products sales, and Ross Trotman - head of structuring. The new structured products division, which will serve initially for UK onshore clients, provides clients 'with streamlined access to the best issuers of structured products' combined with 'bespoke technology and tailored customer service'.
"We have been fortunate to work with a great panel of issuing banks and developed a bespoke structured products platform designed specifically for the needs of wealth managers," said Mike Ward, head of business development at global prime partners, in a statement. "It's exciting to bring this product to market and the initial reception from our clients has been extremely positive. We started to trade on launch day earlier this month."
According to Ward, business development continues and in the second half of 2017 the firm plans to launch a Wealth Solutions service aimed at providing wealth managers "with an integrated clearing, custody and portfolio management platform".
The firm is working with a broad panel of issuers, "allowing us to be able to offer products in all asset classes and payoff profiles", said Ward, adding that the current focus is on products "commonly traded in the UK institutional market which will often have an equity component with some form of downside protection"."We also work with clients on hedging against macroeconomic themes such as inflation," said Ward.
GPP will also conduct formal due diligence on each counterparty it works with. "Clearly credit quality remains a key consideration, also such factors as consistency of secondary market pricing are important," said Ward. "Speaking to investment managers and dealers, we appreciate the need to have efficient systems and trading capability. GPP has expertise in technological solutions so we are also keen to select counterparties where we can achieve high rates of Straight Through Processing (STP)."
According to Ward, in the UK market, there remains strong appetite for pay offs related to equity market upside and clients are prepared to be exposed to some market downside risk to get it. "That being said the recent rally in equity markets has caused some clients to hold off making new investments with the expectation of a better entry point when markets pull back from the current highs," said Ward. "The low interest environment has affected the pay offs we can offer however this has been prevalent for a number of years now. The US dollar products are becoming more interesting with the move in US rates over the past few months."
Global Prime Partners offering will consist of securitised investments, delta one certificates and defined payoff funds for institutional and professional clients. Product development will be backed by the firm's in-house structuring and research capabilities and targeted to wealth managers, asset managers and family offices.
The structured products team will also monitor dynamic product risk profiles within its client's positions, to 'highlight secondary market opportunities across the various asset classes and ensure liquidity at fair value'.
Ward joined the firm in late 2016 from Nomura, where he was co-head of Europe, Middle East & Africa (Emea) equities. Before that, he was head of equity sales for the Emea region at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.
Robinson joined GPP from Catley Lakeman where he was head of cross asset sales. Prior to that, Robinson held senior sales positions at Morgan Stanley, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and BNP Paribas. Trotman joined from Hartmoor where he was responsible for product development and structuring. Before that, Trotman worked as a senior structurer at Investec Bank. Trotman is responsible for the creation of the product suite, processes and proprietary technology.
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