Credit Suisse declined to comment. Earlier this year, Credit Suisse rolled out its electronic offering of dual-currency investment securities to Asian clients on its Automated Foreign Exchange Securities platform, which was launched in early 2010 for European clients.
The hope is that by offering electronic pricing, it can drive more volume in structured products and commoditise products, such as dual currency deposits – which are fully securitised and transferable – via the use of a security wrapper. The main target market is third-party private banks, Thomas told EuromoneyFXNews in October.
Celent, the consultancy, estimates that FX holdings in high-net-worth individuals’ portfolios increased two percentage points to 10% this year. Those estimates are based only on direct FX holdings: that is, if the wealth manager allocates FX in a portfolio.
Dual-currency deposits are regarded as the most common FX structured products and are popular as a short-term yield-enhancement strategy and a cash management alternative, especially in the current low-yield environment. Thousands of trades are executed a day, but typically on an over-the counter basis. The trade is popular with investors of all kinds, particularly private banking clients.