Structured Products Awards 2008

Structured products bankers across Asia were forced to adapt to a completely new environment in 2008, as the extreme market dislocation created havoc for the bull-market structures that were their bread and butter in earlier years.

One of the effects of the global nature of the market downturn has been a focus by Asian investors on local and regional assets with which they are comfortable, and this has led to a growing importance of structures and solutions that are created on the ground in Asia.

We will present these structured products awards to the winning teams at a cocktail reception in Hong Kong in March and a full write-up of each of the award categories will be published in the March issue of FinanceAsia magazine.

HOUSE AWARDS:

BEST COMMODITIES HOUSE
Societe Generale

BEST EQUITIES HOUSE
UBS

BEST FIXED INCOME HOUSE (Credit and interest rates)
J.P. Morgan

BEST FUND-LINKED HOUSE
Lyxor

BEST FX HOUSE
Barclays Capital


PRODUCT AWARDS:

BEST COMMODITIES STRUCTURED PRODUCT
Barclays Capital
Corals
Launched in February 2008, the Corals Index is a unique long/short algorithmic strategy driven by commodity market fundamentals that Barclays delivered to clients in Asia through several different funds and notes.

BEST EQUITY STRUCTURED PRODUCT
J.P. Morgan
Power Index Series
A clever and simple product that allows regular Hong Kong punters to access a strategy that local traders have long exploited -- the relationship between the city's main stock indices and capital flows into and out of Hong Kong.

BEST FIXED INCOME STRUCTURED PRODUCT
Deutsche Bank
Negative Basis Note
A popular product that allows investors to take advantage of the widening yield between cash bonds and their credit default swaps.

BEST FUND-LINKED STRUCTURED PRODUCT
Societe Generale
Income Evolution Protected Note
An innovative structure that provides low-cost capital protection on an exposure to a multi-strategy fund of hedge funds from the Lyxor managed accounts platform.

BEST FX STRUCTURED PRODUCT
BNP
CNY Scoring Option
An Asian-made product that has become a global success thanks to its clever exploitation of renminbi appreciation.

BEST ISLAMIC PRODUCT
Royal Bank of Scotland
Al-Sayf Structured Islamic Deposit
Created for Maybank in Malaysia, this market-neutral product is not just compliant with Islamic principles but completely Shar'iah based.