Wednesday, October 26, 2016 Stamford, CT USA — HSBC tops the Greenwich Associates  list of 2016 Share and Quality Leaders in U.S. Retail Structured Products. 
 
The U.S. retail structured product market remains highly concentrated, with the three largest issuers each being ranked as an important counterparty by more than 70% of distributors.  Joining HSBC in that group are J.P. Morgan and Barclays, which are statistically tied for second place. 

Goldman Sachs ranks fourth in the market after significantly expanding its footprint over the past 12 months, followed by Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas. 

“HSBC, which 40% of distributors rank as their No. 1 issuer, has maintained the extremely high level of service it provides to clients,” says Greenwich Associates consultant David Stryker. “As a result, the bank ranks as the 2016 Greenwich Quality Leader in U.S. Retail Structured Products.”

Market Size and Future Demand
Total notional volumes for retail structured products distributed by U.S. firms held steady (among a matched set of accounts from 2015 and 2016) at nearly $60 billion annually. Distributors expect the biggest growth in demand to come from clients seeking products with maturities of at least a year. Over half of distributors believe that there will be an uptick in demand for principal-protected products. 

Price remains the biggest driver for distributors selecting an issuer for structured products, but increasingly top of mind are concerns about the capabilities of an issuer’s sales team and the depth of an issuer’s understanding of client needs.