As editor of Structured Products I'm more than happy to answer people's questions about market developments (and more than happy to ask these questions to you, the market participants). When asked about the size of various markets I usually point people in the direction of reports from some of the major structuring institutions. Now, however, I'm pleased to say that Structured Products has published it's own market data for the European markets.
The European Retail Structured Investment Products Market 2006/2007, published by our books division, Risk Books, provides detailed analysis for 17 distinct structured products markets.
Below are a few sample findings.
"The report found that, between 2005 and 2006, the UK structured products market shrunk by approximately 11% - surprising many analyst expectations - whereas other European markets generally experienced impressive growth. The French market, for example, was reported to increase from €15.5bn in 2005 to €18.6bn in 2006. The Italian market, however, remained largely stagnant at approx €20bn, due to regulatory confusion holding back product development. The report also demonstrates that newly developing markets for derivatives-based investments show great potential for 2007, with the Polish market up from €450m in 2005 to approx €630m today, for example.
Equity related products make up around 60% of retail structured products offerings across Europe, but the report shows that commodity-linked products and FX linked investments are also on the rise. Meanwhile, the report found that structured products professionals are still struggling to come to grips with regulations such MiFID."
Click here for more info on the report.