Citi's Nicholas Parcharidis, Pierre Pettigrew, Kristen Michell, and Lauren Moskovitz at Schwab's IMPACT 2010 conference. Citi has launched the first onshore real-denominated structured fund linked to a basket of US stocks in response to demand from investors in Brazil for diversification away from domestic underlyings. The fund, which closed on Thursday, June 23, raised 146.2 million... 

LONDON – From today, Santander has launched their latest range of Structured Products for customers looking for a capital return at maturity as well as a minimum return if held for the full term. Reza Attar-Zadeh, Director of Savings and Investments, said: “Structured products are designed for those looking to invest for the longer term, offering potentially greater returns than those... 

Data from Structuredproductreview.com shows that products maturing over the past three months have performed extremely well overall, with the only losses arising from Lehman Brothers-backed plans Despite widespread media criticism alleging that structured products provide poor returns if they provide any at all, the past month has seen UK products maturing with returns of up to 25%, according to Structuredproductreview.com. Data... 

BNP Paribas has joined forces with Janus Capital Group to provide a capital-guaranteed fund, whereby BNP provides protection for Janus Protected World Growth, a US-based mutual fund which offers daily liquidity and is open-ended. The fund was launched in May. “We are using a fundamentally different risk methodology to any other version of a capital-protected fund,” says Fabrice Hugon,... 

On May 18, 2011, FINRA announced in Regulatory Notice 11-25 that it is extending the implementation date for compliance with FINRA Rule 2090 (Know Your Customer) and FINRA Rule 2111 (Suitability). The new effective date is July 9, 2012. The notice may be found here. This new date gives firms a nine-month extension to modify their procedures, implement policy changes, and educate associated persons... 

At mid-year 2011, US structured products sales have already surpassed the $30bn mark, meaning that, barring any unforeseen severe market dislocations or major regulatory speed bumps, this year could set a record for US sales, according to data from SRP. . For the full year 2010, the US structured products market sold more than $53bn of products across just over 8,000 structured notes and market-linked... 

LONDON — Structured Products take many guises and as with any investment solution, a good adviser, or an investor with access to the requisite information, should be able to sort the wheat from the chaff. Whilst they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, structured products usually have the following features: • Income or Growth, not usually both • Defined returns and defined risks •... 

In this article, we discuss the potential impact of these amendments on the structured notes market. In its proposing release,2 the SEC stated that it intended generally to except from Regulation M the same types and amounts of securities that are currently excepted in Rules 101(c)(2) and 102(d)(2), without referencing credit ratings. However, the approach outlined in the proposed rules does not appear... 

The size of the average structured note offering in the U.S. grew 26 percent this year as issuers expand distribution channels and investors favor simpler notes. The average sale was $7.82 million through the first five months of 2011, compared with $6.21 million a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from prospectuses filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission. New... 

Six months into the job, Bradley Bennett, FINRA’s enforcement chief, said the regulator is at its “high-water mark” in enforcement actions, looking back five years, and now that its backlog of cases from the financial crisis is easing, it expects to focus on structured products, with a possible large inventory of cases arising after this summer. Bennett (left), a former defense attorney, said...