Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Equity derivatives: Investors fear structured note counterparty risk

by Peter Koh

Investors in equity-linked structured notes are becoming increasingly concerned about counterparty credit risk, and are therefore becoming more discerning when it comes to choosing which institutions to buy their products from, report dealers.


"Investors are looking at bank A, for example, that might be offering 130% participation and comparing it with another bank, B, that is offering 110% participation, but they’re asking what their chances are of actually getting their money back with bank A"
Shane Edwards, Royal Bank of Scotland

"More people are paying attention to credit risk than before, so it is true that the subset of investors that are being particularly prudent has increased," says Alberto Cherubini, head of exotic equity derivatives at Citi in London.

Whereas in the past many investors, especially retail investors, would have been primarily focused on the payoff that the structured note provides, with credit markets looking so shaky attention is now also being focused on the...


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