SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022 Editorial: Amélie Labbé, Pablo Conde and Summer Wang Data: Veselin Krastev, Lachezara Tsenova, Vanina Kopcheva, Mihaela Mihaylova If you are interested in having a similar bespoke report produced for your organisation, please contact Kevin Leung at +852 3416 6674 or email kevin.leung@structuredretailproducts.com
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
1.1 Introduction
The company, founded in 2001 counts major global financial services groups, financial regulators, stock exchanges, index providers and professional services firms as clients.
• photocopied or printed for multiple use, except for within the organisation for which it was purchased; or
Copyright information
This report is copyright © 2022 Structured Retail Products Limited. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this report in any form without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
• distributed electronically or otherwise in a manner other than that described above.
Indemnity
The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. SRP disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Use of this report is at your sole risk, and SRP accepts no responsibility for any problems or incidents arising from its use.
Acknowledgements
This report would not have been possible without the support of the structured product industry across Asia. SRP would like to thank participants in the SRP survey from 17 February 2022 to 17 March 2022, whose data underpins this report.
Manufacturer Awards
SRP also owns and maintains the specialist industry website StructuredRetailProducts.com, which went live in January 2003, and has since become the leading online information source for the global retail structured products industry. With more then 15,000 registered users and more than 34.2 million product listings (as of April 2022), the website is the primary information source for a wide range of businesses involved in the manufacture and distribution of structured investment products globally.
• sold for commercial gain, either in part or in its entirety;
Asia Pacific Summary
Furthermore, this report may not be:
Introduction
Structured Retail Products Limited (SRP), part of the Euromoney group of companies, is a provider of structured product data, news and events insights based in London, New York, Hong Kong and Sofia.
Distributor Awards Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
1.2 Scope Introduction
This report is concerned with the manufacture of structured products in all product forms including wrappers such as funds, notes, bonds, certificates, deposits and life assurance, and usually linked to equities, foreign exchange, commodities, hybrids and interest rates underlyings.
Asia Pacific Summary Manufacturer Awards
It presents information on structured retail product markets across the Asia Pacific region. Although the term structured product is widely used in the financial community, the term can often have different meanings. For the purposes of this report, a structured product is an investment product providing a predefined return linked to the price of one or more underlying assets. These are usually financial prices, rates or indices, but in rare cases can be sporting or other events. The product can usually be broken down into several separate financial instruments, one of which is usually a derivative product. Where a derivative is not used, the product will use derivative-based investment strategy or computation to provide the return. Although simple warrants, listed options and futures, and delta one products such as tracker
funds, exchange-traded funds and exchangetraded notes are excluded, reference to these products may be made where relevant. The report is based on both quantitative and qualitative analysis. StructuredRetailProducts. com (SRP) surveyed 430 structured products distributors across Asia Pacific between 17 February 2022 and 17 March 2022, collecting data on structured product manufacturers from the point of view of their distributor clients. The results from the survey form the basis of this report. Details of both the quantitative and qualitative analyses are available in the Methodology section of the report.
The report provides the following information: 1. the scope and methodology of the report’s key findings; 2. an analysis of the structured products market in the Asia Pacific region based on survey responses; 3. a separate analysis of the manufacturers by asset class; and 4. an analysis of top distributors’ awards.
Distributor Awards Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
1.3 Methodology StructuredRetailProducts.com (SRP) surveyed Asian structured products distributors between 17 February 2022 and 17 March 2022, receiving 430 responses. The survey comprised three areas of investigation:
Part 2 Data validation
Captive votes and those representing internal transaction flows were excluded from the results.
The survey results underpinned the 2022 SRP Asia Pacific Awards, which were handed out on 11 May 2022 during the 9th Annual Asia Pacific Conference. For the purpose of this report, the scores for each key service category for the individual banks are calculated by averaging. Service scores are, therefore, suggestive of the level of service that a client might expect to receive when working with an investment banking counterparty.
Manufacturer Awards
We asked respondents to the survey to specify five investment banks that they use for hedging purposes, for each asset class in which the respondent was active. They also had to specify the volume of business for each asset class and the percentage split by bank. Their responses made up 25% of the final score for the shortlist. The remaining 75% of the score was based on data submissions, sent by individual banks for the time period between January 1st, 2021 and December 31st, 2021.
• Providers voted for themselves. •W e could not confirm the identity of the respondent. •A respondent voted more than once and we could not resolve the duplication.
Asia Pacific Summary
Part 1 Voting
This includes votes cast by distributors that are part of banking groups which use their parent group for 100% of their activity and internal structuring desks. Also, votes were not included in the survey where:
Introduction
Description of the Survey
Distributor Awards Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
2.1 Issuance and volumes between 2018-2022 Introduction
Market by total sales (USDm) 2018 - 2021 YTD 200,000 180,000 160,000
Asia Pacific Summary
140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000
Manufacturer Awards
20,000 0 Hong Kong
Japan 2018
South Korea 2019
2020
Taiwan
2021
Source: Structuredretailproducts.com
Distributor Awards
Outstanding Issuance and Volumes 2018-2021 YTD
Awards Results
1000000
100,000
800000
80,000
600000
60,000
400000
40,000
200000
20,000
0
0 Appendix
2018
2019
Outstanding sales volume (USDm) (LHS)
Source: Structuredretailproducts.com
2020
2021
Outstanding products issuance (RHS)
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Introduction
Market share by sales 2018 - 2021 YTD 100% 90% 80%
Asia Pacific Summary
70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20%
0% 2018
2019 Hong Kong
Source: Structuredretailproducts.com
2020 Japan
South Korea
Taiwan
2021
Manufacturer Awards
10%
Distributor Awards Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
3.0 Trends & Predictions Introduction
What will the most popular payoffs be over the next 12 months for your market?
Worst Of Option 16%
Accrual 12%
Asia Pacific Summary
Shark Fin 2% Reverse Convertible 2% Range 1%
Protected Tracker 8%
Manufacturer Awards
Autocallable 30%
Dual Currency 4%
Distributor Awards
Digital 20%
Awards Results
According to the SRP Asia Pacific Awards Survey 2022, autocallable is once again determined as the most popular payoff over the upcoming 12 months, taking 30% of the vote. This payoff saw a 3% decrease in comparison to last year’s results. The digital payoff overtook second position with 20% of the responses, mainly from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. It rose by 14%, surpassing the dual currency option. The worst of option payoff surged to third place after amassing 16% of
Callable 5%
the votes, taking the third position from reverse convertible in 2021. Most of the votes for this payoff were submitted from South Korea. The accrual payoff came in fourth place with 12% of the survey vote, primarily from Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong. The SRP Asia Pacific Awards Survey 2022, outlined 10 different payoffs that respondents voted for as their most popular choice (last year: respondents voted for six options).
Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Volatility-based Investments 19%
Credit 5%
Structured Warrants 6%
Equity-Developed Markets 33%
Environmental, social governance jumped to third position with 15% of the responses, a 10% increase
from the 2021 survey, due to the growing interest in ESG policies and investments. The fourth place was taken by equities in emerging markets, which saw a slight drop from 17% in 2021 to 12% in this year’s results. The rest of the investment themes gathered more votes, while the credit option received the same share as last year.
Awards Results
Equities in developed markets is time and again voted to be the most prominent investment theme in the next 12 months. This was the top choice for 33% of the respondents in the survey, down from 56% last year. Volatility-based investments climbed to the second place, taking 19% of the votes (from 11% in the 2021 figures).
Distributor Awards
Equity-Emerging Markets 12%
Manufacturer Awards
Proprietary/Custom Indices 10%
Asia Pacific Summary
Environmental Social Governance (ESG) 15%
Introduction
Which of the following investment themes will be the most prominent over the next 12 months?
Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
4.0 Manufacturer Awards Introduction
These awards are calculated on the basis of the following factors. • Survey of market All respondents will vote for the top five manufacturers in each category. The total number of votes for each individual candidate will be used for shortlisting and will have a 25% weighting.
Asia Pacific Summary
• Submission of product data Each candidate will supply product brochures or term sheets with full sales and performance data per product, issued between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021. The shortlist will be determined by two factors – survey of market votes (25%) and data submission (75%). • Editorial Submission Each shortlisted manufacturer will need to submit an editorial piece of up to 400 words. The winner will be selected by an independent panel of judges convened and chaired by SRP.
Manufacturer Awards
Best House, Asia Pacific 120
100
80
60
Distributor Awards
40
20
0
Société Générale
Awards Results
Barclays
Goldman Sachs
HSBC Bank
Citi
Barclays
HSBC Bank
Credit Suisse
UBS
Best House, Equity 120
100
80
60
Appendix
40
20
0
Société Générale
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best House, Asian Equity Introduction
120
100
80
60
20
0
Société Générale
Barclays
Citi
Goldman Sachs
J.P. Morgan
Barclays
Goldman Sachs
UBS
HSBC Bank
Credit Suisse
Goldman Sachs
Manufacturer Awards
Best House, US Equity 120
100
80
Distributor Awards
60
40
20
0
Asia Pacific Summary
40
Société Générale
Awards Results
Best House, South and Southeast Asia 120
100
80
60
Appendix
40
20
0
Barclays
Société Générale
Kenanga Investment Bank (NagaWarrants)
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best House, Japan Introduction
120
100
80
60
Asia Pacific Summary
40
20
0
Société Générale
Manufacturer Awards
Barclays
Goldman Sachs
UBS
Citi
Barclays
HSBC Bank
UBS
Citi
Société Générale
Citi
Morgan Stanley
Credit Suisse
Best House, South Korea 120
100
80
60
Distributor Awards
40
20
0
Société Générale
Awards Results
Best House, Hong Kong 120
100
80
60
Appendix
40
20
0
Barclays
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best House, Taiwan 120
Introduction
100
80
60
20
0
Société Générale
UBS
Credit Suisse
Citi
DBS Bank
Asia Pacific Summary
40
Manufacturer Awards Distributor Awards Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
5.0 Distributor Awards Introduction Asia Pacific Summary
The award for Best Distributor is based on full sales and performance data per product distributed by the buy-side between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021. The strike date is relevant for best sales and maturity date is relevant for best performance. The results of both are amalgamated and put towards the best distributor award. Sales volume represents total sales invested rather than the notional amount, and performance is the annualised return an investor would have received with a buy-and-hold approach from the strike date until maturity for a product. Each product’s performance is weighted according to its sales volume to give a weighted average performance of the distributor’s portfolio of maturing products for the period.
Best Distributor, Asia Pacific Oustanding Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021 1,000,000
Manufacturer Awards
800,000
Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021 60,000
350,000
50,000
300,000
40,000
600,000
30,000 400,000
20,000
200,000 0
10,000
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
2021
200,000
60,000
150,000
40,000
100,000
0
2019
2020
0
2021 Total issues (RHS)
Distributor Awards
Top 5 distributors by weighted-average performance (%)
80,000
80
60,000
60
40,000
40
20,000
20
Awards Results
E.Sun Cathay Securities Commercial Investment Bank Trust
2018
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
Total issues (RHS)
100
Hang Seng Bank
20,000
50,000
100,000
HSBC Bank
80,000
250,000
0
Top 5 distributors by sales (US$m)
0
100,000
BNP Paribas
0 Cathay Securities E.Sun Investment Commercial Trust Bank
BNP Paribas
HSBC Bank
Hang Seng Bank
Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Distributor, South and Southeast Asia Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021 15,000
35,000
12,000
30,000
10,000
12,500
8,000
10,000
6,000
7,500
4,000
5,000
2,000
2,500
25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000
0
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
2021
0
0
20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by sales (US$m)
2021
0
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by weighted-average performance (%)
4500
100
4000
Asia Pacific Summary
5,000
25,000
Introduction
Oustanding Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
80
3500 3000
40
1500 1000
20
500 0
UOB
Maybank
IIFL Wealth Finance
Edelweiss Financial Services
0
Maybank
Edelweiss Financial Services
IIFL Wealth Finance
UOB
Oustanding Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021 60,000 50,000
18,000
200,000
16,000
180,000
14,000 12,000
40,000
10,000
30,000
8,000
20,000
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
2021
50,000
160,000 140,000
40,000
120,000
30,000
100,000 80,000
6,000
60,000
4,000
40,000
2,000
20,000 0
0
20,000 10,000
2018
2019
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by sales (US$m)
60,000
2020
2021
0
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by weighted-average performance (%)
90000
Awards Results
10,000 0
Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
Distributor Awards
Best Distributor, Hong Kong
Manufacturer Awards
60
2500 2000
100
80000
80
70000
Appendix
60000
60
50000 40000
40
30000 20000
20
10000 0
HSBC Bank
Hang Seng Bank
Bank of China (Hong Kong)
Bank of East Asia
0 HSBC Bank
Bank of East Asia
Hang Seng Bank
Bank of China (Hong Kong)
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best Distributor, Japan Oustanding Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
Introduction
725,000
3,000
720,000
2,500
25,000
2,000
20,000
715,000 710,000 705,000
Asia Pacific Summary
700,000
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
1,500
15,000
1,000
10,000
500
5,000
1,300
1,200
0
2018
2019
2020
1,100
2021
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by sales (US$m)
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by weighted-average performance (%)
5,000.00
100
4,000.00
80
3,000.00
60
Manufacturer Awards
2,000.00
40
1,000.00 0.00
1,400
0
2021
1,500
30,000
20 Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities
Daiwa Securities
SBI Securities
Imamura Securities
Monex Securities
0
SBI Securities
Monex Securities
Imamura Securities
Daiwa Securities
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities
Distributor Awards
Best Distributor, South Korea Oustanding Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
120,000
30,000
120,000
30,000
100,000
25,000
100,000
25,000
80,000
20,000
80,000
20,000
15,000
60,000
15,000
10,000
40,000
10,000
5,000
20,000
5,000
60,000 40,000
Awards Results
20,000 0
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
2021
0
0
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by sales (US$m)
2021
0
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by weighted-average performance (%) 100
9,000 7,500
80
6,000
Appendix
60
4,500
40
3,000
20
1,500 0
Mirae Asset Securities
Korea Investment & Securities
Samsung Securities
KB Investment & Securities
Meritz Securities
0
Meritz Securities
Korea KB Investment & Investment Securities & Securities
Mirae Asset Securities
Samsung Securities
15
SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best Distributor, Taiwan Oustanding Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
Sales Volume & Issuance 2018 - 2021
16,000 14,000
50,000
12,000
40,000
10,000
30,000
8,000 6,000
20,000
4,000
10,000
2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
12,000 10,000
30,000
8,000 6,000
20,000
4,000
10,000 0
2,000 2018
2019
2020
Total Volumes (USDm) (LHS)
Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by sales (US$m)
14,000
40,000
0
2021
16,000
50,000
0
2021 Total issues (RHS)
Top 5 distributors by weighted-average performance (%)
18,000
100
16,000 80
14,000
Asia Pacific Summary
0
2,000
18,000
60,000
Introduction
18,000
70,000 60,000
12,000 60
8,000
40
6,000 4,000
20
2,000 0
DBS Bank
E.Sun Cathay Commercial Securities Bank Investment Trust
Bank SinoPac
BNP Paribas
0
E.Sun Cathay BNP Paribas Commercial Securities Bank Investment Trust
Bank SinoPac
DBS Bank
Manufacturer Awards
10,000
Distributor Awards Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
6.0 Shortlists Introduction
6.1 Manufacturer Awards
Asia Pacific Summary Manufacturer Awards Distributor Awards
Best House, Asia Pacific Barclays Citi Goldman Sachs HSBC Bank Société Générale
Best House, Hong Kong SAR Barclays Citi Credit Suisse Morgan Stanley Société Générale
Best House, Equities Barclays Credit Suisse HSBC Bank Société Générale UBS
Best House, Taiwan Citi Credit Suisse DBS Bank Société Générale UBS
Best House, Asian Equities Barclays Citi Goldman Sachs JP Morgan Société Générale
Best House, South and Southeast Asia Barclays Credit Suisse Goldman Sachs Kenanga Investment Bank Société Générale
Best House, US Equity Barclays Goldman Sachs HSBC Bank Société Générale UBS
Best House, South Korea Barclays Citi HSBC Bank Société Générale UBS
Best House, Japan Barclays Citi Goldman Sachs Société Générale UBS
Awards Results
6.2 Distributor Awards
Appendix
Best Distributor, Asia Pacific BNP Paribas Cathay Securities Investment Trust E.Sun Commercial Bank Hang Seng Bank HSBC Bank
Best Performance, Asia Pacific Bank SinoPac BNP Paribas Cathay Securities Investment Trust E.Sun Commercial Bank Fubon Bank
Best Distributor, South & Southeast Asia Edelweiss Financial Services IIFL Wealth Finance Maybank United Overseas Bank
Best Performance, South & Southeast Asia Edelweiss Financial Services IIFL Wealth Finance Maybank United Overseas Bank
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best Issuance Platform Bloomberg DLIB Credit Suisse – mysolutions JP Morgan – Nexus Julius Baer – Derivatives Toolbox Société Générale - SG Markets SP
Best Pricing and Risk Analytics Provider Avaloq Bloomberg Horizon Murex Refinitiv
Best Proprietary Index Provider Citic Securities Credit Suisse HSBC JP Morgan Société Générale
Manufacturer Awards
Best Structured Product and Derivatives Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
Asia Pacific Summary
Best Index Provider FTSE Russell Hang Seng Indices MSCI Nikkei S&P Dow Jones Indices
Introduction
6.3 Service Providers
6.4 Innovation & Education Awards Personality of the Year Based on votes in the APAC survey
Most Innovative Product Based on editorial submission
Best ESG Solution Based on editorial submission
Most Innovative Index Based on editorial submission
Best Warrant Provider Based on editorial submission
Distributor Awards
Best Educational Initiative Based on editorial submission
Awards Results Appendix
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
7.0 Awards Results Introduction
7.1 Best House and Distributor Overall Winners Manufacturer Awards
Asia Pacific Summary Manufacturer Awards
Best House, Asia Pacific Société Générale
Best House, South & Southeast Asia Kenanga Investment Bank
Best House, Equities Société Générale
Best House, South Korea Société Générale
Best House, Asian Equities Société Générale
Best House, Hong Kong SAR Credit Suisse
Best House, US Equities Barclays
Best House, Taiwan Credit Suisse
Best House, Japan Barclays
Distributor Awards
Distributor Awards Best Distributor, Asia Pacific HSBC
Best Distributor, South & Southeast Asia UOB
Best Performance, Asia Pacific Cathay Securities Investment Trust
Best Performance, South & Southeast Asia Maybank
Awards Results
Service Providers
Appendix
Best Index Provider S&P Dow Jones Indices
Best Issuance Platform Julius Baer - Derivatives Toolbox
Best Proprietary Index Provider Credit Suisse
Best Structured Product & Derivatives Exchange Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
Best Pricing & Risk Analytics Provider Bloomberg
Best Warrant Provider Macquarie Group
19
SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Best Educational Initiative Education programme & social media campaign for structured warrants (Kenanga Investment Bank)
Best ESG Solution HSI ESG Enhanced Index (Hang Seng Indexes Limited)
Personality of the Year Lavanya Chari (HSBC Private Banking)
Most Innovative Product Parachute Snowball (Huatai International)
Asia Pacific Summary
Most Innovative Index Volatility Risk Premium Index (Credit Suisse)
Introduction
Innovation & Education Awards
Manufacturer Awards
7.2 Best Sales and Performance by Region and Country
Japan Best Distributor: Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Best Performance: SBI Securities
Singapore Best Distributor: UOB Best Performance: Maybank
Taiwan Best Distributor: E.Sun Commercial Bank Best Performance: E.Sun Commercial Bank
India Best Distributor: IIFL Wealth Management Best Performance: Edelweiss Financial Services
Awards Results
Hong Kong Best Distributor: HSBC Best Performance: HSBC
Distributor Awards
South Korea Best Distributor: Korea Investment & Securities Best Performance: Meritz Securities
Appendix
20
SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Introduction
SRP Apac Awards 2022: Personality of the Year Lavanya Chari, HSBC Lavanya Chari, global head of Investments & Wealth Solutions at HSBC Private Bank, won the SRP Apac Personality of the Year award for 2022.
Asia Pacific Summary Manufacturer Awards
Chari joined HSBC Private Bank as global head of products, investments and collaboration in 2020. Based in Singapore, she leads HSBC’s private banking and wealth product strategy and the global investment products team. Chari has a long track record on wealth products and structured investment solutions, and has worked with a broad range of clients including retail distributors, private banks and sovereign wealth funds. She joined the UK bank from Deutsche Bank where she was global head of products and solutions for private banking. Chari grew up in India, where she studied aerospace engineering for her undergraduate degree before pursing an MBA. Following an internship with Lehman Brothers in Tokyo, she got an offer to join Deutsche Bank in London.
Distributor Awards
“I went through a rotation programme as a graduate trainee and found that I really enjoyed the structuring desk,” she says. “I could put my mathematical and engineering background to use and also focus on the people element, as I enjoyed working with people and building relationships.”
Awards Results
She started her career in rates structuring in London in 2002 and went on to run that business on the asset side for Europe, across private banking and institutional clients. In 2009, Chari began to run the commodities asset structuring business globally for Deutsche out of London, across institutional and private banking clients. In 2012, she decided to move to Singapore where her responsibilities expanded to include structuring and structured sales.
Appendix
“I ran the two segments for the same client groups across FX rates, credit and commodities,” she says. In 2016, Chari moved to the private bank within Deutsche to capitalise on the wealth management opportunity in Asia.
“I ran products for Apac for the wealth business before taking on that responsibility globally within Deutsche. Finally, two years ago I decided to join HSBC for an exciting opportunity to enhance the global wealth proposition for the bank,” she says. How was the environment for structuring back in early 2000s? Chari: It was an aggressive environment on the trading floor in London. It was also a period of significant growth for the structured products industry and I enjoyed the product innovation aspect and the opportunity to drive business and work with different parts of the bank. A combination of those factors made me choose and enjoy working in structuring for the first few years of my career. What made you want to move to Asia in early 2012? Chari: Despite being from India, I had never worked in the region prior to that. I was keen for an opportunity to work in Asia and learn more about the region. Secondly, at that point, Europe had just gone through the sovereign crisis while Asian economies were in a growth phase. I wanted to understand, contribute to and be a part of this growth story. On a more personal note, I was keen to experience the different cultures in Asia and travel more around the region. While it is one big continent, each country is extremely diverse with its unique culture and heritage. What challenges did encounter during the shift from the sell-side to the buy-side? Chari: When I moved to the buy-side, I wasn’t too familiar with that side of the business in my early days so it was a steep learning curve. I obviously knew about the private banking and wealth management industry from the other side, but this was my first time working in it. I found it exciting as it felt like I had moved to a different industry for a new experience.
SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
Awards Results Appendix
What structured product focus would you highlight under your leadership at IWS?
Nevertheless, our view is that we do not expect recession or stagflation in the global economy at this point and therefore, our advice to our clients has been to build resilient portfolios, focusing on quality, income and diversification. We are also aware that our clients need more frequent updates during these volatile periods and so we constantly communicate with them on significant market moves.
Distributor Awards
How are structured products covered at IWS? Chari: Structured products are covered within the capital markets team by around 50 specialists, spread across Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, London, Geneva and US. We have an investment-led approach where we tend to come up with solutions for our clients based on the chief investment office (CIO) view.
How has the structured product business fared year-to-date? Chari: The business has been resilient. The equity part was obviously challenging in Q1 22, but we did make up for that in different forms. For instance, the rates and FX business picked up. The non-flow business was also healthy. The current market environment is clearly challenging. There are many headwinds, such as inflation, Covid 19 and geopolitics.
Manufacturer Awards
How big is your team? How has your previous experience helped in the HSBC role? Chari: The investments & wealth solutions [IWS] team which I manage has around 1,200 employees globally. My past experience in products has helped considerably as it has allowed me to drive the business, ensure that the team is innovative and comes up with relevant solutions for our clients, which matches what clients are looking for, rather than imposing ideas that are irrelevant.
How much structured products did WPB trade in 2021? By market, flow type and asset class. Chari: While the main asset class in 2021 for structured notes was equity, we managed to diversify our offering into FX, fixed income, credit as well as repackage solutions and quantitative investment strategies [QIS]. Moreover, within the equity space, we saw more interest in non-standard, non-flow products.
Asia Pacific Summary
At HSBC, we continue to invest in infrastructure, information technology and training of our relationship managers to ensure that we can cater to the growing needs of our clients. We have now automated a big part of our pricing and execution capabilities so that our staff can devote more time to offer customised structured solutions. This year, we rolled out structured products tracking a hedge fund basket in the form of a call option and equity dispersion strategies, which served as portfolio diversification instruments. They have worked well in the current market backdrop. We also offered the assets in option format, so that clients can limit their cash outlay. Moreover, we’re in the process of offering far more digitally enabled execution platforms.
Chari: At HSBC, my team and I have been focused on two key areas within structured products. First, we have worked on the diversification of the business so that the underlying assets have not been just equities. We have also focused on interest rates and credit linked products. Technology is the second big piece of work, one that I’m very passionate about. We have initiated many IT projects with the aim of improving client experience, shortening the time to market of our product ideas and freeing up our resources to focus more on customer service. I’m pleased to share that we recently launched online trading for structured products in Asia on our private banking mobile app. We are the first in Asia to offer private banking clients the option to trade fixed coupon notes via mobile. There will be a self-directed journey where clients can price their own terms and trade on screen. This is supported by an infrastructure that’s connected to all our structured products trade counterparties so the clients will get the best tradable price from all of HSBC Private Banking’s counterparties on the mobile app.
Introduction
How has the Apac structured product market shifted since your relocation in 2012? Chari: Compared to 10 years ago, I’d say that structured products has now emerged as a core asset class. The behaviour of wealth management and private banking clients has shifted from being just equity-markets driven and primarily speculative in nature, to now being more receptive to using structured products for different purposes like cash alternatives, yield enhancement, portfolio hedging and diversification. The clients’ level of sophistication and knowledge has also increased significantly over the years while the variety of payoffs and underlying assets has expanded a lot.
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The Application Programming Interface (API), is a web-based software application which allows clients to access our data in a controlled manner & integrate it using their own software packages & systems.
Retrieve. •
Download real time SRP data directly to excel
•
Receive market share on each asset class/payoff for each company of interest
Interrogate. •
Monitor & increase your market share
•
Carry out accurate trend analysis with comprenhensive product data spanning over 15 years in seconds
Incorporate. •
Import data directly into in-house systems/platforms and interrogate the data and risk more effectively
•
Combine data sets with other products and visualise it in the context of the larger business
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SRP Asia Pacific Awards Report 2022
8.0 Appendix Analysis of respondents Other 3%
Australia 3%
Introduction
Taiwan 4%
China 2%
Singapore 15%
Australia
14
Canada
1
China
10
France
1
Germany
4
Hong Kong
86
India
2
Japan
31
Malaysia
100
Singapore
63
South Korea
92
Taiwan
17
United Kingdom
3
United States
2
Grand Total
426
Appendix
Number of Respondents
Awards Results
Country
Distributor Awards
Malaysia 24%
Manufacturer Awards
Japan 7%
Asia Pacific Summary
Hong Kong 20%
South Korea 22%
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