Asian financial organisations continue going from strength to strength, as they make significant gains after several months of Covid-related uncertainty.

Singapore’s DBS Group trebled its issuance of structured products in Taiwan as it continues to build up its ESG offering in its domestic market. Net profit has increased by four percent to SG$1.3 billion (US$970m) in the third quarter ended on 30 September quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). There are 1,465 products issued by DBS Taiwan and three by DBS China from July to September, nearly treble the total issuance in the same period in 2019, SRP database shows.

Small tickets have largely supported the growth in Taiwan where the largest Singaporean bank by asset has seen a 55.5% increase of its issuance to 7,112 during the first nine months as the most active issuer in the region YoY, SRP reported.

The world’s largest hub for structured products, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, has seen net profit increase by 51.4% year-on-year (YoY) to HK$3.34 billion (US$430m) in the third quarter ended 30 September as revenue and other income surpassed the first two quarters. The exchange reported that the listing cycle of structured products shortened from five to three trading days introduced in July was ‘another milestone for HKEx to accelerate growth in its structured products market’.

Crédit Agricole Group reported an underlying net income of €1.9 billion in Q3 2020, stable (+0.5%) compared to third quarter of 2019. The group’s third quarter 2020 activity recovered to its pre-crisis levels as it becomes the number one structured product issuer in France.

Outside of Europe, Japan was an important market for the group. Not only did it issue 11 products with combined sales of US$77m (Q3 2019: US$123m from 10 products), it was also the derivatives manufacturer behind 26 structures (US$240m) distributed via local securities companies, including Tokai Tokyo Securities, Mizuho and SBI. Another Asian market were it was active was Taiwan, where it sold eight products that were targeted at private banking investors.

In a first for the Thai market, JP Morgan has launched two derivative warrants (DWs) linked to Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI), marking its third foreign DW in the country following the issuance of warrants linked to Hang Seng Index (HSI) and S&P 500 (SPX) earlier this year.

The HSCEI warrants, with one call and one put, are tied to HSCEI Futures and began trading at the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 10 November. The new products are targeted at local retail investors seeking to get exposure to the technology sector as the US bank responds to increasing demand observed throughout the year.  

Leonteq has made headlines yet again, after news it had appointed Alessandro Ricci as head investment solutions and member of the executive committee. He will take over the responsibilities of David Schmid, who will leave the Swiss structured products specialist firm after 12 years with the company. Ricci, currently Leonteq’s deputy head investment solutions and head Switzerland & Emea, will assume his new responsibilities by 1 January 2021.

Natixis has appointed Mohamed Kallala and Anne-Christine Champion as co-heads of corporate & investment banking and members of the senior management committee. They started their new roles on 5 November, and replace Marc Vincent who has been appointed global head of mergers & acquisitions at Natixis. They report to Nicolas Namias, Natixis chief executive officer.

The French bank also announced last week it is repositioning its equity derivatives under a lower risk appetite. The step comes as it moves away from the most complex products and tightens exposure limits on low- and medium-risk products.

“We are exiting from the riskiest products such as autocall worst-of stocks long-term,” a spokesperson for Natixis, told SRP. “Most other products are maintained although restrictions will be imposed on some of them by volume or client type.”

Over in the US, Citi has debuted a structured investment tied to the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA exchange-traded fund (ETF) which tracks the performance of the MSCI USA Extended ESG Focus Index. The investment features double green qualities via impact investing through a green bond programme and boasts returns linked to firms with strong ESG credentials.

(Picture credit: Wikipedia).