Jan 23, 2012

Improving Transparency in the US Retail Structured Products Market

Despite certain challenges and changing client expectations, the US retail structured products market is a growing industry, with USD 20 Billion of issuance in the last 12 months and approximately 4,000 new products issued annually since 2008. Clearly a less mature market than the well-established structured products market in EMEA, the popularity of structured products in terms of investment, growth and popularity has not accelerated to the level of other investment types, such as mutual funds, ETFs and ETNs in the US market.

Indeed, there is a need for increased education and transparency in the US retail structured products market. For some US investors, “structured is still a bad name with significant headline risk in the marketplace,” explained Jim Jockle, SVP at Numerix, during the webinar discussion. “A direct result of the recent crisis is that investors today approach any investment opportunity with a healthy skepticism to be better informed when making an investment decision,” he added. “Given the lack of maturity of the US structured products market, investors do not have access to the independent tools needed to evaluate structured products or compare them to other products prior to the investment; and, valuation and past performance measures are unavailable.”

The regulatory uncertainty surrounding structured products and OTC derivatives has many investment firms unsure of which products to recommend to their clients. Now, more than ever, advisers and brokers need to justify the investment decisions that they have made. As investors seek ways to manage volatility and increase transparency in the decision-making process, a new product has emerged that is designed to meet these challenges from an independent perspective. Tim Mortimer, Managing Director of Future Value Consultants (FVC), described structurededge.com, a new independent online research and analysis service, as “akin to what Morningstar does for mutual funds.”

“Structured Edge enables you to use objective rankings to find the best and most popular deal types, issuers and underlyings; leverage detailed product reports to better educate your clients and improve transparency; follow new deals and keep abreast in dynamic markets and demonstrate due diligence and provide sound investment advice to your clients,” Mortimer explained.

Get Independent Online Research for the US Structured Products Retail Market

  

 

Access Market Rankings and Breakdowns

 

 

Considered by many registered investment advisors and other investors as ‘the Morningstar equivalent’ for structured products, Structurededge.com is the only online, independent research and analysis resource dedicated to the US OTC derivative and structured products retail market. It offers in-depth reports, rankings and virtual advisor-assisted searches; covering virtually the entire US structured products retail market—across all product types and issuers.

For a free 14-day trial, or to learn more about StructuredEdge.com, contact jjockle@numerix.com.

 

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