Wealth managers: How and why we use structured products

Despite negative press, structured products still form part of many wealth manager portfolios. Joanna Faith looks into their appeal.

It has been five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers brought to the fore the issue of counterparty risk in structured products. While some members of the intermediary community still regard the products as toxic, many continue to back them as good diversifying tools.       This has led to the volume of structured products issued increasing since 2007 and has coincided with a rise in the sophistication of products. Lisa Chaudhuri, UK investor solutions at Barclays, saw a significant rise in the use of structures across wealth management firms from 2007 to 2010, but admits that ove...