Announcing the mtn-i 14^th Americas Structured Note Awards

POST-COVID ANNOUNCEMENT

While preparing to announce mtn-i’s 14th Americas Structured Note Awards, global markets were shaken to their core due to the advent of Covid-19. Never before, not even during the financial crisis of 2007, have our markets experienced such unprecedented levels of volatility and uncertainty.

However, during these times, the structured note markets have showcased unrivalled resilience and elasticity. The products allowed investor base to achieve their widely varying goals by providing enhanced returns, protected downsides and exposure to asset classes otherwise out of the reach of many buyers.

mtn-i’s mission is to reveal how structured products constantly evolve to meet investor needs in response to market conditions, and the current situation has offered an unparalleled insight into this process.

We have therefore decided to recognise UBS as a power performer during the crisis, leading the USD16bn wave of US equity-linked issuance the hit the market during the crisis with a range of products allowing investors to enhance their participation in the following equity market recovery.

With some investors flocking to the relative safety of fixed-rate and step-up callables Wells Fargo stepped up to the plate and provided over a third of US interest rate structures during the crisis, helping support a 50% year-on-year increase in rate-linked supply.

PRE-COVID ANNOUNCEMENT

mtn-i’s 14th Americas Structured Note Awards for the period ending just before Coronavirus hit global markets in February 2020 underscored the continued growth and innovation in structured note markets across the Americas.

Last year we decided to announce our Americas awards grouped by themes – spotlighting more clearly the range of the market’s solutions and relevance to investors in each case and the firms leading their innovation. This year we continue on this path, highlighting the main drivers of innovation and investors solutions through 2019 as verified by mtn-i’s data.

The foremost players in structured note markets across the market accessed multiple growth trends via multiple asset classes. Bank of America, mtn-i’s US Structured Products Dealer of the Year, led from the front, tapping into multiple trends in the ELN market while rapidly expanding its rates platform to meet the needs of its broad client base.

In ELN space, Barclays has recaptured the top spot on the issuers league table, increasing its market share in an ever-competitive environment and making it once again the Equity-Linked Issuer of the Year.

Taking two House of the Year awards alongside an Editor’s Award Citigroup. As a leader in structured rates products the bank was integral in the resurgence of lighter structures also growing feeding demand for more complex products and was a leading dealer of the World Bank‘s callables in the US.

The rapid and sustained expansion of its US ELN business, tripling its issuance volumes since 2016, earns Citigroup an Editor’s Award and in Latin America the issuer consolidated its leadership reaching close to 15% of market share in the region and grew its penetration of a range of distribution channels.

A wave of demand for lightly structured rates products hit the market during 2019. The World Bank made a herculean push into the US market for fixed-rate callables, reaching more than USD20bn in issuance over the course of 2019 and earning them the accolade for Callable Issuer of the Year.

Tapping into the same trend, Ford Motor Credit Corp, mtn-i’s Corporate Issuer of the Year, accounted for 50% of all SEC-registered retail-targeted corporate callables thanks to the reach if Incapital‘s InterNote program.

In Canada, CIBC has delivered an excellent performance, further consolidating its N.1 position with a 38% market share of structured capital at risk products issuance. Their continued strength is recognised once again by the Canadian Structured Products Issuer of the Year award.

The diversification of exposures is a trend that has transcended the pre and post-coronavirus eras as investors have accelerated their search for new structures and underlyings. At one end of the spectrum, BBVA structured tweaks on traditional products while on the other end Credit Agricole led the way with a dynamic fund-linked solution. AAM and Desjardins, meanwhile, brought greater international equity exposure to their respective markets.

Environmental finance will be perennially relevant to capital markets. Amid the scarcity of green initiative, some have shown exceptional bravery in structuring new green solutions. BNP, always at the forefront of green innovation globally, stood out with a unique approach to an NGO sponsored tree-planting scheme. During BNP Green Week 2019, for every USD1,000 raised in ELNs one tree would be planted in Peru, resulting in a total of USD31m raised and 31,123 trees planted.

Investor appetite of the yield enhancement of structured rate products has grown over the past year and endured the recent crisis, becoming even more essential. the quest for yield endured and became even more crucial. Citigroup and Royal Bank of Canada led the USD14bn of World Bank callable notes, offering an attractive spread over Treasuries while maximising volatility and optionality value with perfect timing.

With a 50% market share, Toronto Dominion‘s journey in the SEC-market continues to be a story of growth, winning it the Rates Issuer & Dealer Rising Star award while Morgan Stanley‘s innovation in SOFR and Libor products lands the bank a power performer award.

The worsening trade-related tensions between the US and China, coupled with the anticipation of interest rate cuts from the Fed resulted in a huge gold-linked revival that has accelerated through the recent crisis. Underscoring this trend, JP Morgan offered the largest gold-linked pure-play of the last 6 years and reached a dominant position in the market with a 70% share.

Interest in accessing multiple asset classes to either enhance returns or to broaden exposure has persisted for more than 18 months. Societe Generale fed this hunger for hybrids notes combining equity and CMS spreads as the steepening of the curve post-March 2019 created an opportunity for investors.

Incapital took its market-linked product sales to USD5.7bn by the end of 2019, a record breaking achievementthat has landed it a Distributor of the Year award. The growth story is evident across Incapital’s business which saw a 9% growth in overall note sales and more than a 70% expansion in its distribution of rates structures. Alongside this Incapital also became a leading liquidity provider in the secondary market.

The return of value plays, and in particular a focus on high dividend paying equities, increasingly captured the attention of the market throughout 2019 and into the new year. Bank of America led the way by printing a series of notes linked to the STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index, identifying a pool of demand that several other issuers later came to utilise with their own structures.

CLICK TO SEE THE WINNERS!

Nominations open next month for our Americas Awards!

Which Deals, Dealers, Issuers, Investors and Rising Stars deserve recognition?

Click here for details on how to pitch.

NOMINATIONS OPEN: 20^th January 2020
PITCH DEADLINE: 28^th February 2020

Book your pitch call / meeting at awards@mtn-i.com or +44 (0) 20 7437 1331.
 

Structure Tech! Is the headlining theme of the agenda for mtn-i’s 13th Americas Structured Note Showcase and Awards – just 10 days away at the Four Seasons, Miami on April 4th.

And rightly so because Structure Tech is reinventing every step of structured investing from note conception to post trade investor relations. It’s creating new underlying and payoff opportunities and the biggest range of underlying access and risk / reward scenarios to the tech sector itself! And with the on-boarding of every major manufacturer to multi-issuer platforms the entire market is set to be catalysed by digitisation.

Structure Tech is an unmissable exploration of the future for manufacturers, issuers, distributors, FAs, RIAs and private wealth managers.

Top executives from HALO and LUMA (including LUMA Founder and CEO, Tim Bonacci) will pitch the latest versions of their platforms in our 5 minute Pitch Star sessions and be joined by SIMON to collectively consider digitisation’s expected transformation of the future of structured investments in the The Platform Play-off Panel which follows. And answer your questions!

Nine more of Structured America’s fastest growing structured investment themes are showcased and spotlighted across the rest of the showcase agenda and represented by the executives leading their evolution.

These themes also lead the Awards recognitions we will be celebrating later that night at the 13th Americas Awards Dinner – which will be presented by theme for the first time!

This year’s mtn-i America’s Structured Note Networking Lunch, Afternoon Showcase and Awards Dinner is an unmissable exploration of the future of structured investments for manufacturers, issuers, distributors, custodians, law firms, FAs, RIAs, Private Wealth Managers and Family Offices.

And with 30 leading firms across these categories already signed up to attend – it’s an even bigger networking opportunity – not least because of our infamous tea-time Speed Networking.

What’s more – our unique format is designed to deliver more between lunch and tea time than many conferences achieve across two days – giving you more time to build relationships and opportunities . And weather permitting – you won’t even have to leave the Palm Grove Pool Side to go indoors.

There’s still time to sign up! Email shannon@mtn-i.com! We look forward to seeing you!

Dress code – Poolside Business-Casual.

Volatility Rises, Structures Surge!

mtn-i is excited to announce its 13^th Americas Structured Note Awards in a period when volatility across asset classes and rising rates drove the biggest year in a decade for the US structured products market.

New structuring techniques enhanced value for investors, including the use of AI and key consolidations in the digital platform space set the scene for a revolution in distribution and the potential for this market to connect with advisors and investors.

US sales grew 15% to USD65bn as manufactures and distributors delivered an expanded toolbox of solutions to navigate choppy equities, volatile rates and swings in other asset classes that defined the last 12 months.

mtn-i’s mission

mtn-i’s mission to reveal how structured products constantly evolve to meet investor needs in response to market conditions and identify the market’s most relevant themes and growth stories always drives our award decisions.

For the first time we are announcing and presenting our Americas awards grouped by these themes – spotlighting more clearly the range of the market’s solutions and relevance to investors in each case and the firms leading their innovation.

This also highlights which themes are finding the strongest traction with investors as verified by mtn-i’s data.

Digital Distribution & AI Indices

Online distribution platforms have reached a jumping-off point as issuers and dealers scramble to find new and more efficient channels to reach a widening pool of buyers.

The new found independence of SIMON, and its onboarding of the leading manufacturers as equity partners, the continued innovation and independence of HALO, and the consolidation of two of the market’s deepest distribution channels into LUMA, have inspired manufacturers, issuer and advisor to see digital execution and distribution as reaching critical mass in its potential to be powerful force in driving the market’s future – and earning them a collective Editor’s Award.

SIMON is also scooping a Market Futures Award for leading the growing enthusiasm for the online distribution of structured notes and transforming the conversation around multi-issuer platforms.

In the proprietary index space Credit Suisse utilised RavenPack‘s artificial intelligence algorithms to leverage hard and soft data to create the Artificial Intelligence Sentiment Index. The benchmark harnesses the power of ‘big data’ analytics to make sector allocation decisions.

Investors have sought ways to monetize and hedge against volatility in the equity-linked market with overall sales increasing 10% to USD57bn. Helping buyers get a pick-up on the downside UBS led the issuing and distribution of index-linked bear notes while JP Morgan worked with Advisor Asset Management to print a unique stock structure.

The US investment bank’s Manufacturer award also recognises its pioneering of dual-direction worst-of products while BNP Paribas brought a growing number of RIAs to the structured note arena with bespoke solutions.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors looked to stock-linked structures to find returns in a more volatile environment with Bank of Montreal providing the greatest number of tickets to the market.

The rally in US dollar interest rates led to more than a doubling in fixed-rate callables, step-ups and structured floaters, jumping to USD4.5bn. Toronto Dominion built on its strong credit quality and substantial distribution channel to print some of the largest fixed and floating-rate structures seen in recent years to both institutional and retail client.

Corporate credits also found traction in this environment with Incapital providing retail with access to Caterpillar, Ford, General Motors and Verizon while Toyota Motor Finance Corp made its landmark debut outing in the US retail space, issuing USD2bn in IncomeDrive Notes.

Meanwhile, interest rate swap-linked products alongside structures such as range accruals found renewed demand. Bank of America straddled trends in both complex and more lightly structured products, quadrupling its issue volume and landing it a Power Performer Award.

Range accruals returned to the GSE space care of FHLB. Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Stifel Nicolaus all found demand for the re-emergent structure. Barclays led innovation in US dollar CMS pushing a USD20m series of principal-at-risk paper linked to the 10-year rate.

Providing Mexican investors with a solution to falling returns on traditional rate-linked products BBVA opened the market for notes linked to TIIE swaps. An uptick in rates also prompted the appearance of floating coupons in the ELN market with Bank of Nova Scotia pioneering the product in Canada.

As inflation rose investors demanded structures linked to US CPI. Notes on the measure exceeded USD300m for the first time in seven years. Barclays led the growth with multiple structures providing 40% of the market volume.

Greater volatility also birthed new multi-asset solutions to compete against more traditional products. Citi found traction with best-of multi-asset portfolio plays tackling a high degree of market uncertainty.

Credit Agricole has sown the seeds for growth in the bank-issued structured green market leading the way in green products to retail through a series of rate and equity-linked notes while also placing the largest ever FIG US green structure.

Attractive pricing opportunities in oil futures-linked notes fuelled a 13-fold increase in issues. Morgan Stanley, as both an issuer and a dealer, accounts for over 40% of the market.

The World Bank cemented it position as a leader in solutions-focused new structures becoming the only supra active in commodity-linked issues with a unique floating rate, callable, puttable product.

Against increasing competition from a growing number of rivals our House of the Year Awards recognise the strongest performances overall in structured notes across the Americas.

In the US JP Morgan stands as the benchmark against which other names compare themselves growing its business by 10% and gaining market share. Leading volume and innovation in the equity-linked space across structures and underliers, the name is also competitive across asset classes and channels of distribution making it our Manufacturer of the Year.

The World Bank, mtn-i’s Americas Issuer of the Year, spread recognition of its name across institutional and retail clients with a range of structures targeting the US and LatAm.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs has provided leadership in rates, across light and complex structures, while Societe Generale supplied volume and innovation in the 3a2 market. Among broker-dealers Incapital stands out for wide spread distribution of structured products from a range of credits.

CIBC has been spotted at the front of many of the recent trend in Canada’s structured note market including single stock notes on a variety of domestic and foreign underlyings, hybrid index linkers and oil future plays. For its innovation in onshore deals in Mexico and Brazil alongside its third-party structuring Citi wins a Latin American Structurer of the Year Award.

For their overall performances in the US two Canadian names rose to prominence. National Bank of Canada rocketed out of the starting gate with USD800m of ELNs issued while Bank of Nova Scotia expanded its output in equities and rates, bringing in new distribution channels and going toe-to-toe with the biggest names in the third-party space.

CLICK TO SEE THE WINNERS !

Star showcase!

Book your seat now for our poolside Showcase and Awards on April 4th and don’t miss the inspiration and company of Americas’ most creative and influential structured note players.

Reserve your seat / table here now!