Structured products limp back into favour

Derivatives have copped a lot of flak since the global financial crisis. Retail investors in particular have turned their backs on structured instruments such as accumulators, which many now see as unsafe, deceptive and complicated.

The widespread losses incurred by holders of Lehman Brothers’ minibonds in Hong Kong and Singapore also encouraged regulators to crack down on issuance, leading to an almost complete halt of sales to the public in both markets.

But, according to one former structured products banker in Hong Kong, investors should put their bad memories aside and take another look.

Times have changed. At the height of the boom in...