This week, more Q3 earnings, BNP’s philanthropy efforts in the Americas, and an exclusive interview with FNZ’s Walter Cegarra.
Amundi posted net revenues of €791m for the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 25.7% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2020.
In the French networks, inflows were slightly negative (-€0.7 billion) due to early redemptions on structured products tied to favourable market conditions.
However, the effect of early redemptions of structured products is not expected to have an impact on the retail margin of the asset manager, according to Nicolas Calcoen, deputy CEO, head of finance, strategy and public affairs, Amundi.
“This kind of products have margins that are in line with all the rest of the retail business,” he said, speaking during a conference call on 11 November.
Barclays increased its structured product sales in the US market to US$2.7 billion (474 products) in the third quarter of 2021, up by 48% from US$1.8 billion (602 products) in the same period of 2020, SRP data shows.
The UK bank ranked as the fourth biggest issuer group in the US, with an 11.1% share of the market, behind Citi (13.6%), Goldman Sachs (12.8%) and J.P. Morgan (11.6%).
Barclays also made changes to the group executive committee and the corporate and investment bank (CIB) division with Paul Compton appointed as the new global head of CIB, and president of Barclays Bank, and Alistair Currie becoming the global head of consumer banking & payments (CB&P).
In Latin America, XP retained its position as the most dominant issuer group in Brazil with 48 structured products worth an estimated US$85m in the third quarter of 2021. The company also increased the offering of alternative strategies with the launch of a XP Índice de Ações Globais Baixa Vol VT 7%, a proprietary index developed in collaboration with German index provider Solactive, which was introduced in October.
FX rates dominated the Mexican structured products market with almost 80% of the volumes collected in the first nine months of 2021 tied to the USD/MXN currency pair.
BNP Paribas’ new structured notes campaign in the Americas will help The Forgotten International, an independent non-profit organisation, to fund projects at La Comunidad de Niños Sagrada Familia, a large school, orphanage, and medical clinic in Peru, housing over 1,000 children.
As part of the initiative, over Q4, for every US$10,000 worth of structured notes that BNP Paribas sells in the region, the French bank will be donating the equivalent of three meals to cover an orphan’s needs for one day
“This will apply to any product sold and is solely a BNPP donation,” Nathalie Texier-Guillot, head of equity sales US, BNP Paribas, told SRP, adding that the US have a long history in philanthropy and a culture of giving back to the community.
In Thailand, Krungthai Bank provided a THB/USD swap to hedge the entire coupon of a US$180m digital corporate bond with the interest rate subject to a sustainability index.
Meanwhile, the trading value of derivative warrants listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand reached a year low, at US$4.2 billion, despite growing issuance.
Issuance was also strong in Hong Kong SAR, where the number of newly listed derivative warrants and callable bull/bear certificates ‘both reached record nine-month highs in YTD Q3 21,’ according to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.
In an exclusive interview, Walter Cegarra, chief executive of FNZ’s structured investments platform FNZ Q-Hub, spoke to SRP about why technology has become increasingly central to investment banks in the structured products space.
“We are often asked if legacy systems are an issue when deploying new technology,” said Cegarra. “We agree that they may represent a challenge given their typical lack of flexibility, but that is also for good reasons. Investment banks must ensure proper operational and risk management.”