Natixis has licensed the newly launched Euro iStoxx 70 Equal Weight Decrement 5% Index to be used as the basis for structured products. The new index replicates the performance of the Euro iStoxx 70 Equal Weight Index while assuming a constant markdown.

The index aims to prosper during time of considerable market volatility, according to Frederic Goasguen (pictured), head of index engineering, equity derivatives at Natixis.

The index replicates the performance of the Euro iStoxx 70 Equal Weight Index with net dividends reinvested. The equal-weighted index comprises the 70 largest Eurozone stocks by free-float market capitalisation of the Eurostoxx Index. An annualised decrement of 5% is subtracted from the underlying index, according to the corresponding day-to-day year fraction. The index is available in a price version and is calculated in euros.

"The index is based on a subset of the Eurostoxx and complements our smart beta index offering," said Matteo Andreetto, chief executive officer of Stoxx, in a statement.

The licensing of the index is in line with the French bank's increasing concentration on smart beta and risk control underlyings, and follows the launch earlier this year of the NXS Climate Optimum Prospective Index, a new composite smart beta strategy of low-carbon stocks designed by Natixis as the underlying of index-linked products, according to Goasguen.

Natixis has marketed 326 structured products, of which 165 are live products. This year, the bank has marketed 26 structured products, including 16 in France and 10 in Italy.

There are 152 structured products with US$1bn of estimated assets benchmarked to iStoxx indices listed in the SRP database, with the iStoxx Europe Next Dividend Low Risk 50 index the most popular of its smart beta indices among structured products providers, with over 60 products marketed, followed by the iStoxx Europe Select High Beta 50 index (18 products), and the iStoxx Global ESG Select 100 index (11 products).

This is the first time the Euro iStoxx 70 Equal Weight Decrement 5% Index has been licensed by a structured products provider.

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