LATEST POSTS: SPA Blogsite, April 2008

Structured Products Association Annual Conference 2008
For full coverage of SPA-2008 from Prospect News:
Click here for Day One (Wednesday, April 9, 2008)
Click here for Day Two (Thursday, April 10, 2008)

FINAL DRAFT: SIFMA Principles for Distributor-Individual Investor Relationship -- On March 20, 2008, SIFMA and ISDA circulated the latest draft of the proposed "Principles for Managing the Distributor-Individual Investor Relationship," a set of voluntary guidelines on the marketing of structured products to individual investors. Last chance to comment.

Andrew Scherr on the Agony and Ecstasy of Structured Products (Euromoney) -- "Financial weapons of mass destruction " in the eyes of Warren Buffett, feared by government regulators, banned from the general public, and lampooned by politicians, academics and media. And yet, despite all of the foregoing . . . the U.S. Structured Products industry is . . . exploding.

Some RIAs See Structured Products as Key Strategy (Investment News) -- A small but growing number of advisers are turning to derivatives-based strategies. "We're taking risk off the table by replacing equity exposure with principal protection and buffered notes" said Frederick Wright of Smith & Howard Wealth Management.

SPA-2008 Day 2: Future Challenges, Opportunities (Prospect News). Mutual funds have put up a "very aggressive lobbying position" against exchange-traded notes (ETNs), said Adrienne Browning of Deutsche Bank. "In Congress right now, the fight is going on," said Ray Shirazi of Cadwalader, but HSBC's Eric Miller said, "Structured products has arrived … beating closed-end funds in issuance" n 2007.

SPA-2008 LeadingEdge Award Winners (Prospect News Special Coverage) - Steve Braverman of MyCFO Harris Bank, Frederick Wright of Smith & Howard Wealth Management, Tom Balcom of Financial Planning Association, Tony Proctor of Proctor Financial and J. Scott Miller of Blue Bell Private Wealth Management are winners of the first SPA LeadingEdge Advisors Awards, presented by Raina Mathur of Societe Generale.

SPA-2008 - Distributors: SPs Market 'Vibrant, Innovative' (Prospect News) - "The ETN market is a growing vibrant area," said Som Seif of Claymore Investments in Canada, but despite rising innovation, the market is still reverse convertible-driven, said Guy Gregoire of Pershing LLC.

Structured Products on . . . the Job Market? (Business Week) - New financial products linked to the nonfarm payrolls data are the first of several the Chicago Mercantile Exchange plans to launch.

Structured Commodities Boom: Buyer Beware (Reuters) -- Investors pouring money into structured commodities may be concerned after the collapse of Bear Stearns, and some risk-prevention features in such structured products.

ETNs' Steady Growth Pose Threat to ETFs, MFs (Investment News) -- "ETNs are definitely a threat [to mutual funds and exchange traded funds]," said Jeff Ptak, director of exchange traded securities analysis at Morningstar Inc. of Chicago.

SPA-2008: ETNs Elude Tax Strictures (Investment News) "You are not likely to see anything happen on this in 2008," said Thomas Humphreys, a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York.

Goldman's Golden Duo to Form $1B Hedge Fund (Bloomberg) Josh Birnbaum, whose bearish mortgage derivatives trades propelled Goldman's $11.6 billion last year, plans to form a $1 billion hedge fund.