Editor`s letter
Distributors should rely on the value of a capital guarantee, worry a little less about whether they will get repaid and worry a little more about how to make a decent return. Being safe and sound in structured products used to mean arranging a capital guarantee. But not any more, it seems.
The concern that distributors are sharing with all those willing to listen is that they had not realised that principal protection does not cover their investment should the issuer go bankrupt. To a community that was taken aback last year by the news - to them, at least - that bonds don't necessarily get repaid, it has been a further lesson in the unfortunate offshoots of risk.
Cover Story: A trade for all directions Until last year, soaring markets gave product arrangers a simple story to sell to private banking clients, who could demand full capital protection and still expect high returns. But volatility and sky-high commodity prices mean that market-neutral trades can now be marketed heavily to private banks. By Michael Marray
Regulation: Stepping on the brakes
The structured products market in Norway is undergoing a paradigm shift after local financial supervisory authority Kredittilsynet tightened rules relating to the sale of such instruments to retail investors. Hardeep Dhillon surveys the new landscape
Markets: Turbocharging ETFs
The first actively managed exchange-traded funds have been sanctioned in the US and the race to launch them into the market is under way. But what are the implications of this new breed of active ETF, and where will they sit in the wider investment landscape? Emma Dunkley reports
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