Custom indices revive structured products

摘要

Customised equity indices that have been re-engineered to pay fixed dividends have helped to reinvigorate demand for structured products by providing improved pricing flexibility against a backdrop of low interest rates. Natixis has raised more than €2.2bn from products linked to a customised CAC 60 - an equally-weighted index that combines constituents of the CAC 40 benchmark of Paris-listed blue chips with the next 20 largest stocks. After reinvesting net dividends, the index pays out a fixed 5% annually, eliminating the dividend risk and enabling issuers to structure products with chunkier yields and improved capital protection.