The past week saw bustling activity in the indexed universal life (IUL) market in Hong Kong SAR after a regulatory greenlight was given early this year.
Transamerica is expanding its IUL business from Singapore to the city through its subsidiary Transamerica Life (Bermuda) which mainly operates in Asia. The American company owned by Dutch insurer Aegon has launched an IUL linked to the S&P 500 Volatility Stabilizer 10% VT Intraday TCA 1.50% Decrement Index (USD) ER. The excess return index went live on 14 July deriving from the S&P 500 Volatility Stabilizer 10% Base Index.
HSBC Life, which has an established footprint in Asia, has added three indices to its upgraded indexed universal life (IUL) offering in Singapore: the S&P 500, S&P U.S. Tactical Multi-Asset 4.5% TCA 0.65% Decrement Index (USD) ER and S&P Global Diversified 7.5% TCA 0.75% Decrement Index. The latter two indices were launched in May 2025 and December 2024, respectively.
The burgeoning segment is an important catalyst for the growth at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said Sue Lee, head of index investment strategy for Asia Pacific at the US index provider, “with Taiwan set to launch this soon, following Singapore in 2024 and Hong Kong in H1 2025, where similar volatility-controlled indices are favoured in product design”.
In Thailand, United Overseas Bank (UOB), Southeast Asia’s third-largest bank by assets, has promoted Gidon Kessel with an expanded mandate to the group from Thailand to lead the deposit and wealth management business.
During his two-year stint at UOB Thailand, the structured product veteran’s team introduced a structured dispersion fund in April and the country’s first US dollar-denominated structured fund last year.
The Thai structured notes market grew 10% in the second quarter with THB32.3 billion (US$1 billion) in sales year-on-year (YoY). The amount was a one percent uptick from Q1 2025. Krungthai Bank topped the issuer pack again after amassing THB 8.5 billion, representing more than 26% of the market, according to the Q2 2025 Thailand Market Review based on SRP data.
In Japan, Barclays sold a five-year principal-protected note at JPY 599m (US$4.0m) tracking the Barclays US Equity Dynamic JPY RC 12.5% Index. Launched in March, the reference index provides exposure to the S&P 500 futures using its proprietary ‘Dynamic Volcast’ technology that incorporates its latest volatility control mechanics.
Our index committee is focused on creating indices that are both easy to explain and have shown outperformance relative to benchmark - Benjamin Wang
Across the Pacific, the index-linked insurance segment has retained its momentum in the US, particularly in annuities.
Janus Henderson is looking to gain a bigger market share through a range of proprietary indices, such as Janus Henderson Equity Directionality Index ER and Janus Henderson Adaptive Market Leaders US Index.
“Our index committee is focused on creating indices that are both easy to explain and have shown outperformance relative to benchmarks. We hope to isolate compensated risk factors and place them within an index construct,” said Benjamin Wang, portfolio manager at the British American asset manager who also chairs the firm’s index committee.
Jackson Financial closed the second quarter with registered index-linked annuity (Rila) sales of US$1.4 billion, up 16.7% from the first quarter, or a slight decline YoY primarily due to lower sales of products with lifetime benefits.
Meanwhile, the carrier’s account value of Rila hit an all-time high at US$15 billion as of 30 June, accounting for six percent of that for retail annuity ‘supporting sustainable investment spread income’.
For structured notes, the US market collected US$9.3 billion notional from approximately 3,200 structured notes registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May, down 15.7% from April or 18.3% lower YoY.
Barclays is again behind a monthly best-seller on a single stock structure while the S&P MidCap 400 Index made its debut in the top five league table, according to SRP's May 2025 market review.
Recent research from The Index Standard (TIS) shows that risk control indices have struggled to perform following a number of unexpected announcements this year, particularly the ‘Liberation Day’, which caused markets to fluctuate quickly.
For Europe, SRP caught up with British consultant Orpheus Capital to discuss the latest trends following its launch of two actively managed certificates (AMCs) on investment grade and blue economy carbon assets.
An estimated €140m (US$163m) was collected in Slovakia from 24 publicly offered structured products from April to July, according to the countries Q2 2025 market review. Sales decreased by 16% compared to the previous quarter and were down 28% YoY. Products linked to FX rates captured a 90% market share.
For the quarter, an estimated US$55.5 billion was collected from 87,875 publicly offered structured products that struck during Q2 2025 in the Dach region, which refers to Germany (D), Austria (A) and Switzerland (CH).
For the first half the year, autocalls continued to deliver, however, the best-performing product was a participation certificate from Goldman Sachs sold in Sweden - Sprinter Top Pick Europeiska bolag nr 4321 – which returned an overall 281.17%, or 28.95% p.a., according to SRP's overview of the best performing products in Europe during H1 2025.
Last but not least, don’t forget to check out our latest weekly product wrap which looks at the newest products with interesting structures across the globe.
Image: Maximusdn/Adobe Stock
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