From Italy’s investment certificates, Hanwha’s new autocall launch in Korea, to people moves in New York, here’s the weekly news cap brought by SRP news desk.
SRP has published part three of the SRP Index Report 2025, where we look at the growing importance of custom and strategy indices within the structured products market across various regions.
Now news of the week: In Italy, turnover for investment certificates sold on the country’s primary market jumped 47% year-on-year to €9.4 billion (US$11 billion) in the second quarter of the year, the latest figures released by the Italian association for certificates and investment products show. The latest volumes reached the highest recorded since 2006, when the association first started registering sales and issuance data for the Italian primary market.
In France, Morgan Stanley issued Autocall Optimum Luxe 2025 on the MerQube Eurozone Consumer Products & Services 10 50 Point Decrement EUR Index, as it replicates the performance of the MerQube Eurozone Consumer Products & Services 10 Total Return Index assuming a constant dividend markdown of 50 index points subtracted on a daily accrued basis.
In Switzerland’s Market Review, SRP database recorded an estimated CHF 16.7 billion (US$21.6 billion) from 34,990 products that struck in July, soaring 118% compared to last year’s same period. The analysed data signals a clear market concentration in yield enhancement solutions, including income-driven strategies, amid range-bound equity markets.
Also in Switzerland, structured product issuer Helveteq partnered with Equitron, a Zurich-based fintech asset manager specialising in AI-driven thematic investment strategies, to launch a tracker certificate linked to an actively managed basket comprising Bitcoin and gold.
The new AMC has been positioning itself outside the traditional fiat currency system, as it combines bitcoin and gold and is aimed at investors who fear missing out, as well as those who are concerned about a potential setback in Bitcoin.
In Asia, DBS announced that it has become the first bank in in Singapore to plan to tokenise structured notes on the Ethereum public blockchain by working with third-party digital investment platforms and exchanges, which currently include ADDX, DigiFT, and HydraX.
In South Korea, Hanwha Investment & Securities has issued country’s first ‘reboot’ step-down autocallable note wrapped in equity-linked securities (ELS). The product’s protection period is triggered when the underlying first reaches the knock-in barrier, as the issuer looks to attract investors to mitigate tail risk via the new offering.
In Hong Kong’s Market Review, Alibaba (H Shares) surpassed long-term top underlier Nvidia to become the most-used underlying asset for equity-linked investments (ELIs) in July, with issuances tracking the Chinese retailer's stock standing at 1,339, SRP data shows. In China’s Market Review, China Merchants Bank maintained its position at the top of the manufacturers ranking with the largest market share in the retail structured deposits space in July.
Equities remain dominant in Asia. In the first half of the year, equity-linked structured products’ estimated sales jumped by a quarter in Asia Pacific ex-China, with their estimated sales making up around 80% of the market share across asset classes.
In Americas, Bank of America put the focus on zero day to expire (0DTEs) on the Magnificent 7 stocks, which are ‘actively traded but have less growth’ than indices or ETFs for zero-day options, according to its research report released in August.
‘It's worth noting that some exchanges like Nasdaq have signalled a desire to list additional expiries on stocks,’ the bank’s report states. ‘If those plans come to fruition, then 0DTEs may potentially turn from a niche corner of the stock options market into a deep pool of liquidity as is currently the case for some indices/ETFs.’
Among people moves, BNP Paribas said it hired Christopher Coyne as director, equity derivatives insurance solutions sales in New York, replacing Ryan Cullen who recently left for Morgan Stanley. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) said it appointed Ryan Peters as managing director, head of US equities distributions in its financial institutions group based in New York.
Meanwhile, FVC’s Tim Mortimer highlighted Charm, the rate of change of Delta with respect to time, and why it is important to analyse such in option pricing.
Image: Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Adobe Stock
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