As the economic recovery continues in the wake of the financial crisis, providers of both structured products and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen sales steadily increase throughout 2010. But providers are facing a range of regulatory changes and are busy re-engineering their delivery platforms and product ranges in anticipation of new EU rules.
Regardless of whether an investment product is structured as an exchange-traded note (ETN) exposed to the counterparty risk of the provider, or in a fund format with segregated accounts as an ETF, transparency and liquidity remain key themes for institutional, high-net-worth and mass retail investors across Europe following their experiences with the Lehman Brothers collapse and the drying up of liquidity.
