Structured Products Awards for Excellence 2018 – Structured Product House Of The Year

2018 Winners

Structured Product House Of The Year

BNP Paribas

Stephane Honig
head of WM&FO, head of strategic equity solutions group, global markets, APAC
BNP Paribas

Amid more complex market conditions in 2018, we have continued to make progress in our journey initiated four years ago to shift our value proposition for private banks from a leading product manufacturer to an investment solutions provider.

In 2018, we took new strides in evolving from a one-size-fits-all technology approach to bespoke connectivity technology which could fit different banks and business models. Today, we are able to support our private bank clients through direct fix connectivity, multi-issuer platforms, email pricer, and SMART Derivatives. In addition, we have made continuous efforts to extend the scope of payoffs and underliers alongside providing additional value-added features to improve clients’ user experience. Our long-term focus is to build a cutting-edge digital platform to provide our private bank clients with ‘one-stop-shop’ access to the full investment lifecycle.

Over the years, we have developed strong capabilities within our global markets teams across asset classes in various areas: fundamental and quant research, structuring, and trading. In 2018, we have continued to customise those capabilities to meet private banks’ and their end-clients’ needs.

Throughout this journey, our relentless focus to understand what private banks are strategically trying to achieve, their constraints, and their key processes is a key factor to success! As we move towards 2019, our determination and motivation to further intensify our efforts has never been so high.

In stark contrast to 2017, which was marked by a storied global market rally and a return of “animal spirits”, 2018 has proven far more challenging, testing the ability of structured product providers to adapt quickly and effectively to new market conditions. Although competitive pricing and a broad universe of payoff structures and underliers will always matter, 2018 was critical in separating mere product manufacturers from investment solution providers.

This year, and precisely for this reason, the industry selected BNP Paribas as the Structured Product House of the Year. Within equities, where rising volatility and trade war-related headlines brought the asset class to the fore, BNP Paribas dominated, thanks to its successful promotion of key underliers like HSCEI dividends, Stock Connect-related baskets, and Japanese equities as well as its ability to effectively adjust structures linked to megatrends like tech, stock dispersion notes, efficient S&P 500 hedging, and long-term value approach through indices.

FX, too, was in the spotlight as the Trump administration’s moves placed pressure on a handful of major currencies while a global risk-off sentiment sent select emerging market currencies spiralling. Within this asset class, BNP Paribas once again dominated a number of categories due to its effective delivery of various solutions focused on tactical positioning within G10 currencies’ trading ranges and its pioneering efforts, regularly achieving first-mover status.

But perhaps the best evidence of BNP Paribas’ pedigree as an investment solutions provider is its proven ability to fill non-flow demand that is specific to client needs and, often, to more niche market conditions.

BNP Paribas also continued to enhance its value proposition with a client-centric, multi-asset team approach to coverage, proprietary fundamental and quant research capabilities, and a cutting-edge digital platform which covers various technological needs for structured product interfacing.

Superlative product manufacturing capabilities fortified by its client-centric approach to distribution and servicing led regional structured product gatekeepers to reward BNP Paribas for the third consecutive year as Asian Private Banker’s Structured Product House of the Year.

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