The most read stories in the past seven days from our news desk.
Société Générale (SG) is enhancing its London and New York franchises via new leadership appointments across global markets, equities and equity derivatives. Key moves include Salim Nemouchi relocating to London as head of global markets UK while retaining responsibility for prime services, and Natasha Dadlani and Stéphane Dahome becoming co-heads of the Americas equities business.
As investors increasingly focus on outcomes rather than product wrappers, innovation is flowing more freely across markets - Alexandre Ecot, SG
SG is also expanding the use of quantitative investment strategies (QIS) and custom indices across structured notes, structured ETFs and fixed indexed annuities. The bank sees custom indices increasingly serving as a common investment engine across different product wrappers, as income generation, downside protection, capital efficiency and longer-term growth themes exposure are the targeted outcomes.
"As investors increasingly focus on outcomes rather than product wrappers, innovation is flowing more freely across markets", Alexandre Ecot, head of structured investments distribution, North America, told SRP.
Goldman Sachs is another bank that observes strong demand for custom and strategy indices. The bank is seeing firms move beyond standard volatility-controlled strategies and seek more tailored investment solutions, thematic consistency across product suites, and differentiation in swaps linked to structured ETFs.
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) also looks to leverage increasing opportunities in customised indices and structured investment outcomes across notes, ETFs and insurance products. The bank is developing its QIS capabilities and deepening its relationships with index providers, including Bloomberg.
S&P Dow Jones Indices sees custom indices evolution driven by enhancing volatility-control technology, the move of structured payoffs into indices and rising demand for systematic strategies across insurance, ETFs and other investment wrapper. The index provider believes that custom indices are growing beyond traditional role as benchmarks and are increasingly used as the architecture that investment outcomes are designed and delivered.
Vest Financial highlights the growing convergence between ETFs and structured products, noting that defined-outcome, covered-call and autocallable strategies are increasingly being delivered across product wrappers. The firm sees the ETF wrapper brings liquidity and transparency to strategies traditionally delivered through notes.
Market reviews
Poland’s structured products market generated an estimated PLN2.2bn (US$590m) in Q2 2026, with sales up 32% quarter-on-quarter and 46% year-on-year. Goldman Sachs topped issuer rankings after it expanded its network of distributors in the country.
In Taiwan, the structured notes market reached a record level in the second quarter this year, with issuance exceeding 38,000 products, up 224% year-on-year. Equity basket-linked structures dominated activity, representing nearly 92% of issuance, while interest rate-linked products lost momentum. DBS, Nomura and UBS were among the leading issuers.
Thailand’s structured notes market also expanded in Q2 2026, with sales rising 81% year-on-year to THB57.9bn and issuance exceeding 6,600 products. Equity-linked notes were the primary growth driver, while Kiatnakin Phatra Securities and Siam Commercial Bank led the market in sales volumes.
Regulation and products
Data from European Securities and Markets Authority shows that more than 10 million EU retail investors traded derivatives or structured products between 2022 and 2025. The regulator highlighted the significant role of complex products in retail trading and pointed to rising demand for turbo certificates, which may indicate a shift away from contracts for difference (CFDs).
Thailand introduced new regulations that reduce licensing requirements for certain foreign derivatives and securities-related activities. The reforms expand exemptions under the Foreign Business Act and are intended to make it easier for foreign derivatives dealers, advisers and fund managers to conduct business in the country
SRP reviewed a range of structured products across the world with strike dates between 13 and 19 September this year, including Merrill Lynch BV, which returned to the market with an eight-year autocallable distributed by Gan Patrimoine in France.
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