An interesting story was relayed to me today. And I'd like every doubter of the derivatives-based investment markets to hear it. Structured products are not investments for the foolish, as many in the press would have us believe.
Apparently there is one man, in Canada, who really knows his stuff. According to my contact in New York there is a chap in the land of maple leaves who loves structured products so much that he put CAD 100 million of his own money into a pretty simple index tracking product late last year. Let's call him Mr. Rich.
In fact, my contact also calls him Mr. Rich - the reason being that he was referred by a third party and part of the deal was anonymity.
Just three months on and his investment has done him proud, it turns out. And it's also done the industry proud.
I really do wish I could tell you who the institutions in question are. But suffice to say you would know them.
I also wish I could tell the story, perhaps with a few more in depth details, to those journalists who seem to enjoy deriding the markets I write about.
So here's to you Mr. Rich - and I'm sure there are plenty more like you out there.