The most read stories in the past seven days from our news desk.
Goldman Sachs is expanding its network of distributors in Poland. The US investment bank has signed two major distribution agreements since the start of the year and is on track to conclude several additional partnerships in the second half of 2026.
By collaborating more closely with a wider array of distributors, we gain a more granular understanding of the evolving needs of Polish investors
This expansion is not merely a volume play, according to Anna Kujawska, executive director, structured derivatives solutions, Global Banking & Markets at Goldman Sachs in Paris.
“By collaborating more closely with a wider array of distributors, we gain a more granular understanding of the evolving needs of Polish investors,” Kujawska told SRP.
Tracking the evolution of key Greeks across nine major indices shows how directional and volatility risk built through the first quarter of 2026 before moderating, while remaining heavily concentrated in a handful of benchmark exposures, according to an analysis provided by FVC’s Suzi Hampson.
Products and market reviews
First Trust is gearing up to launch its first autocallable ETF linked to individual stocks – the FT Vest Autocallable Barrier & High-Income ETF (ACYQ). The fund has dropped a restriction that previously limited its underlying stocks to constitutes of the Nasdaq 100 Index and will instead draw from a smaller chosen set of large-cap stocks, its updated prospectus shows.
Dutch asset manager Wilgenhaege generated 87.11% in 3.5-years – the equivalent of an annualized return of 19.49% pa – with the Société Générale-issued Indexversneller 142%, which offered access to the Eurostoxx 50.
In the US, Bank of Nova Scotia collected US$35.2m with its contingent coupon autocallable securities (06419TCL0) on a basket comprising Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 and S&P 500 while Belfius gathered €1.7m (US$) with its fund-linked Belfius Financing Company (LU) Robotics & Innovative Technology Coupon 90 06/2031 in Belgium.
The Zuercher Kantonalbank-issued Equities BancaStato Focus Artificial Intelligence AMC generated CHF5.3m (US$6.6m) in turnover from 53 trades on SIX Swiss Exchange in May. The open-ended certificate tracks the performance of a global basket of diversified securities active in artificial intelligence as producers or beneficiaries through quantitative and qualitative analysis of balance sheets. The basket is selected by Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino, a Swiss cantonal bank founded in 1915, which acts as the investment manager.
The first quarter of 2026 marked a strong start to the year for the French structured products market with sales reaching €25.5 billion (US$29.8 billion) – up 35% year-on-year (YoY) from €18.9 billion in Q1 2025.
Equity-linked products remained the dominant asset class in France, accounting for 60% of sales in Q1 2026, compared with 58% a year earlier.
Also in France, SRP compared the performance of French structured products reaching maturity or early redemption in 2025 against equivalent bond and equity market exposures over the same holding periods, providing a like-for-like assessment of investor outcomes.
Market
The Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA) added two new members: Cleversoft and Banque Audi (Suisse). The former provides cloud-based regtech solutions to more than 1,200 financial institutions across Europe and the Middle East while Banque Audi brings experience in private banking alongside a focus on tailored investment offerings for high-net-worth clients.
Italy's structured products association Acepi launched an updated version of its product classification framework, reinforcing efforts to improve transparency, standardisation and financial education in one of Europe's most developed investment certificates markets.
The revised Acepi Map, updated as of 1 June 2026, serves as a common classification system for the Italian investment certificates market and has been adopted across the industry. The framework is also used by Borsa Italiana and Euronext.
Meanwhile, in Japan, a white paper from Goldman Sachs Asset Management argues that structural reforms, weak coverage and Japanese-language data create a moat around local information.
People
Causeway Securities has stepped up hiring in Asia as the firm actively prepares to launch its first Asia office in Hong Kong SAR, underscoring its ambitions for international growth.
Edward Liu, Tiffany Cheung and Marc Chong all joined Causeway from Hong Kong-based Goldhorse Capital Management, the operator of the multi-issuer platform Extramile, which caters to external asset managers. The former Goldhorse team joins William Morris who was brought on in March as business development manager, asset management, for Asia.
Enhanced Digital Group (EDG) appointed Johan Cornet as head of structured products distribution. Cornet joins EDG after five years at Marex, where he served in cross-asset solutions sales covering clients across the Middle East and Mauritius.
RBC Global Asset Management stepped up its push into the US broker-dealer market with two senior appointments aimed at broadening its intermediary sales reach beyond independent registered investment advisers (RIAs). The firm named Teddy Yannakouras as managing director and head of the broker-dealer channel within its US intermediary sales team while Joe Dinaso was appointed as director of US intermediary sales for the Northeast.
Regulation
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has proposed that UK Ucits schemes and non-Ucits retail schemes can invest up to 10% of their assets in crypto asset exchange-traded notes (cETNs), marking a significant shift in the regulator's approach to digital asset exposure within retail investment funds.
The proposal, outlined in Chapter 5 of the FCA's 52nd Quarterly Consultation Paper, would permit authorised funds to gain indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum through listed ETNs, provided the allocation remains consistent with a fund's stated investment objectives and risk profile.
The 2026 Finra Industry Snapshot paints a picture of a US securities industry that is growing in scale, becoming more concentrated and increasingly shaped by derivatives activity and evolving investor behaviour. While the report does not specifically address structured products, several findings are relevant to issuers, distributors and advisers active in the market.
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