From a recap on the market dynamics from the Derivia Intelligence Middle East conference last week to the latest product offerings from different regions, here’s the latest news in the structured product industry.

The inaugural Derivia Intelligence Middle East conference has been successfully concluded last week in Dubai where panellists shared a range of topics, from the need for a conducive regulatory regime and regional competitiveness to the role of structured products in portfolio management.

Loai Bataineh, CEO at Omnivest Capital DIFC, said during one panel that during the past few years, more cash flow has been coming to the region from overseas investors attracted by the markets opening up and the introduction of proper rules and regulations.

Structured products within family offices, banks or even special funds are starting to be used as a tool to create extra alpha to the portfolio - Loai Bataineh, Omnivest Capital DIFC

“Hedge funds and international investment bankers have started to move physically to the region, not only to do fundraising as used to be the case in the past, but also looking for opportunities such as structured products,” Bataineh said.

“Structured products within family offices, banks or even special funds are starting to be used as a tool to create extra alpha to the portfolio,” he continued.

Despite the high market capitalisation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stock market, challenges remained in the space for broader regional collaboration like the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf that covers UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Faisal Hasan, chief investment officer and head of asset management at Al Mal Capital pointed out on the stage.

“If I want to launch a product onshore [in the region], I’d have to seek individual approvals whereas it’d be one go in the European Union,” said Hasan.

During the technology-focused panel discussion, Pulkit Sangal, a structured products specialist with experience in the sell- and buy-sides based in Dubai, explained that the Middle East region can now skip the traditional manual process of trading, which involved extensive communication between the buy side and sell side, leading to high costs and inefficiencies.

Pivoting to the Americas market: Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith has forged ahead with its bespoke solutions of structured notes for ultra-high net worth clients on the back of a new complimentary framework, which allows the distributor to access certain issuers identified as global systemically important banks including Goldman Sachs.

“Clients continue to require high-quality geographically diverse issuers. The custom offerings have been well received and are expected grow in 2025,” Anil Varughese, managing director, head of structuring and origination for market linked investments and UHNW solutions at Merrill Lynch, said during the SRP Americas Awards 2024 interview.

Causeway Securities, the UK structured product intermediary, has opened a New York City office as part of its aggressive hiring and business plan. The firm has also appointed Allan Waddell as head of US operations. Waddell joins from iCapital where he was managing director, private wealth solutions.

Meanwhile on the regulation front, Smith, Brown & Groover, the broker-dealer, has settled allegations that it recommended a trading strategy that primarily invested in an exchange-traded note (ETN) without fully understanding its features and risks, which caused ‘near total losses’ for more than 350 retail customers, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

SRP also spoke with Jorge Humberto Del Castillo-Spindola, head of global structured solutions, Mexico, at BBVA, on this year’s market dynamics and product offerings following the Spanish bank receiving two national accolades, Best Distributor and Best Performance, Mexico, at this year’s SRP Americas Award.

In the Europe, Hedios has launched the 60th product in its Gamme H Performance series in France.

Issued on the paper of Goldman Sachs Finance Corp International, H Performance 60 offers access to the Euro iStoxx 50 Equal Weight NR Decrement 5% Index over a 12-year investment term. The product expires early if the index has increased by 10% or more compared to its initial price on any annual observation date (beginning 2 January 2026) for a payout of 100%, plus 14% per year elapsed.

Euronext’s listing products remained stable in October, with some 26,981 new warrants and certificates listing the exchange, an increase of 3.8% compared to the previous month but down 14.4% year-on-year.

In Asia Pacific, Société Générale, the first issuer group to introduce structured certificates in Asia on the SGX Securities market, has expanded its offering with another first in Singapore: a new series of structured certificates linked to US equity stocks.

The yield enhancement structured product will consist of US stocks including a selection of the Magnificent Seven stocks, such as Nvidia and Tesla, and will be available for trading during Asian hours.

In South Korea, sales volume of structured products reached around KRW5 trillion (US$3.6 billion) in October, edging up four percent year-on-year (YoY) and 14% on a monthly basis, SRP data shows.

Principal-protected equity-linked bond (ELB) structures returned as the biggest contributor to the markets  sales volumes, accounting for 36% of the market share, or KRW1.8 trillion, generated from 389 tranches issued last month. ELB sales volumes rose 46% month-on-month.

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