While we learn more about the winners of the SRP Europe 2024, some latest development across wrappers is also worth highlighting.

As a follow-up of the SRP Europe 2024 Awards, Federal Finance talked to SRP about how Paris-aligned benchmark indices and ESG label have contributed to its growth, which earned the French distributor the ‘Index of the Year’.

Crédit Agricole corporate and investment banking (Cacib), which won the awards of ‘Best House, Interest Rates’ and ‘Best Distributor, Europe’, has continued to capitalise on the high interest rate environment by bringing best-sellers principal protected notes and fixed income products. 

Volumes in new products saw a significant increase compared to 2022, a positive trend that was observed not only in the Netherlands but also in our second home market Belgium - Marcel Pronk, VLK

Meanwhile, Van Lanschot Kempen has won the award for ‘Best Performance, Benelux’ and ‘Best Distributor, The Netherlands’.

“Volumes in new products saw a significant increase compared to 2022, a positive trend that was observed not only in the Netherlands but also in our second home market Belgium,” Marcel Pronk, director, treasury sales, structured products & FX at VLK, told SRP.

Furthermore, the exotic trading desk at the independent wealth manager has gradually implemented a new hedging strategy, which has resulted in a solid performance that aligns well with its internal risk appetite.

Beyond awards, BBVA has bolstered its QIS business with the addition of a family of FX indices as it continues to push forward in its ambition to offer clients a full range of alternative risk premium strategies across different asset classes.

In the listed segment, turnover in investment and leverage products on reporting European financial markets rose five percent quarter-on-quarter and 19% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2023, bringing the total to €29 billion.

The European market has passed the €400 billion mark in open interest across reporting markets, turnover increasing.

In Asia, Thailand’s Kasikorn Securities, an active issuer of structured notes, has adopted the portfolio analytics-derivatives service provided by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

Integrated into Kasikorn’s order management system, ICE stated in an announcement that the new tool will assist in pre-trade price discovery, decision support tools, risk management and analytics across a wide range of asset classes and instruments.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Nasdaq has launched futures contracts on its OMX Sweden Small Cap 30 ESG Responsible Index, as it seeks to expand the coverage of its Nordic equity products.

The launch complements its existing OMX Stockholm 30 ESG Responsible Index contract, which has seen volume grow by 38% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, to 418,953 contracts. At the same time, open interest has grown to a record 70,693 lots – 50% higher than a year ago.

BNP Paribas collected a total of US$3 billion in principal amount from 1,251 structured notes in the US in the first quarter of the year, 141.4% higher than the prior-year period. This also represented over half of its combined volume in 2023 when the French bank issued 3,062 structured notes worth US$5.6 billion for the full year.

Behind the growth lies a wider adoption of “price efficient indices”, according to Gabriel Nguyen, managing director, head of cross asset distribution sales, Americas at BNP Paribas.

In the latest StructrPro analysis, we look at trends in issuance, maturities and returns across index-linked products in the US market.

On the annuities sides, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, which sold over US$3 billion in annuity products in 2023, has launched its first registered index-linked annuity (Rila) product, Guardian MarketPerform.

The New York-based insurer has tapped the SG Smart Climate Index besides S&P 500, MSCI EAFE Index and Nasdaq 100 for the maiden index accounts. 

For people moves, Ivan Ho, director, head of Hong Kong warrants and callable bull/bear contracts (CBBCs) sales at Credit Suisse has parted ways with the Swiss bank after 14 years of service, SRP has learned.

Edward (Chengen) Liu has been appointed as deputy chief executive officer (CEO) of Goldhorse Capital Management (HK) with responsibility for the entire business operation, according to a spokesperson at the company. 

He replaced Long (Kalong) Lee, former CEO of Vontobel Limited, the financial products arm of Vontobel Holdings based in Hong Kong SAR.

Image: Photobyphotoboy/Adobe Stock.

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