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First Quarter Had Some Bright Patches

For many sellers of structured notes in the first quarter, it was one to forget, with global sales tumbling from a year earlier. But pockets of the market still saw growth, particularly in regions where volatility kicked up or interest rates remained depressed. Global sales in the first quarter got off to their worst start…

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French Boutique Aims at Tier One Banks with New Lifecycle Management Tools

HPC Investment Partners is targeting tier one banks to help them “respond quicker and more efficiently to the needs of investors”, after launching a new set of lifecycle tools in its click-and-trade platform at the end of 2017. SRP spoke to Pierre-Yves Breton, founding partner and Jordan Sfez, managing partner at the French structured products…

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Wall Street’s Fresh Way to Bet Against Yield Curve Inversion

Retail investors have a new and potentially risky product to punt on the shape of the U.S. yield curve — one where they stand to lose their entire investment if rates don’t go their way. Almost $600,000 of the securities, a variation of the so-called “steepeners” that have been sold for years by Wall Street…

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Tech Angst Is Showing Up in Swiss Market for Obscure Bonds

Investor anxiety over U.S. technology giants has migrated across the Atlantic and climbed over the Alps to land in an obscure corner of the Swiss financial market. Zurich-based Leonteq AG, one of the country’s most prolific issuers of structured products, has created a note allowing investors to bet against four of the world’s biggest tech stocks: Alphabet…

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Principal-Protected Notes Are Due for a Comeback This Year: HPC’s Zuckerman

Ilya Zuckerman, director for investment solutions and head of product sales for German-speaking countries at HPC Investment Partners Rising U.S. dollar swap rates are “an incentive” for more capital-protected notes, whatever the underlying. Investors uncertain about the direction of markets should buy “twin-win” notes that benefit when stocks rise or fall. Bloomberg Briefs Q: Who…

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