BNP Paribas gains attention while advertising comes under regulatory scrutiny.
The past week saw our coverage of the SRP France Conference 2024 held in mid-June trickle in, starting from a discussion on how the unique selling point (USP) of structured products has been validated by rates environment.
Another panel shed a light on the growth of actively managed certificates (AMCs) as they continue to made headways and increase their visibility in the domestic insurance market.
Across the border, Italy posted the second highest turnover of investment certificates at €6.5 billion on its primary market in the first quarter of the year since 2019, despite a slight fall compared to the previous quarter.
BNP Paribas' latest issuance vehicle report showed that the French bank’s Dutch and Luxembourg domiciled vehicles both recorded a year-on-year increase in the outstanding volumes of structured products issued.
As of the end of December 2023, BNP Paribas Issuance BV and BNP Paribas Fortis Funding had outstanding volumes of €126.6 billion and €2.1 billion, compared to € 94.6 billion and €1.9 billion from a year ago, respectively.
BNP Paribas Issuance BV is also behind a product highlighted in the week’s product wrap - Tarcza Możliwości II, which was sold to retail investors in Poland. The 30-month PLN quanto call certificates are linked to the BNP Paribas Transatlantic Defense Fixed Selection 5% Vol Control ER EUR Index.
On top of the traditional flows around autocalls, reverse convertibles and bonus certificates, we were able to bring to the market some innovation, in terms of indices very often with ESG features - Julian Lascar
In an exclusive interview, Julien Lascar, global head of equity derivative sales, told SRP that the French banking giant is seeking to capitalise on its QIS capabilities to deliver new strategies as well as on the rollover money returning to the market from fixed rate notes.
“On top of the traditional flows around autocalls, reverse convertibles and bonus certificates, we were able to bring to the market some innovation, in terms of indices very often with ESG features as well to tackle some more sophisticated needs in the private wealth space,” said Lascar.
In Switzerland, SIX Swiss Exchange has launched its Independent Valuation Service, co-created with Avaloq, which is designed to address international financial markets’ need for end-of-day structured product valuations from an independent source.
Our latest analysis by contributor Suzi Hampson takes a look at structured products tied to crude oil, which remains a preferred asset when it comes to allocation around commodities. Other alternatives have also deployed this commodity in their investment portfolios.
On the regulatory side, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted a new registration form and introduced advertisement amendments for registered index-linked annuities (Rilas) after nine months.
The new rules will become effective 60 days from 1 July in the Federal Register. Filers will have to comply with the final amendments by 1 May 2026.
Advertising has also come under scrutiny by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). A newly-released circular warns that unit-linked insurance policies (ULIPs), index-linked insurance and annuity products shall not be advertised as ‘investment products’.
Staying in Asia, the issuance of derivative warrants (DWs) and callable bull/bear contracts (CBBCs) recovered in May with blue-chip tech and banking stocks driving most of the underlying assets trading activity, our exclusive Hong Kong Market Review, May 2024, shows.
In the listed segment, Société Générale has listed a suite of 20 DWs on US single stocks in Hong Kong SAR, tracking Magnificent Seven stocks as well as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
The issuer looks to diversify its offerings which coincided with the timing of yet another US equities bull run and the troubles of Hong Kong equities, according to Keith Chan, head of cross-asset listed distribution, Apac.
At the same time, Hong Kong’s Goldhorse Capital Management (HK) has onboarded Singapore’s OCBC Bank as the latest issuer to quote pricing for structured products on its multi-issuer platform, Extramile, which is now used by over 100 contracted external asset managers (EAMs).
In the meantime, the Australian dollar against the US dollar topped the league table as the most-used FX rate underlying in the continent in Q2 2024. The issuance of structured deposits tracking the FX rates in China boomed, according to our latest Spolight on Apac.
The latest appointments in the structured product industry include Walter Cegarra, head of institutional solutions at Marex Financial Products, and Martin Langer, head of Group Markets retail products & business development at Erste Group Bank AG.
Image: Olly/Adobe Stock.
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