Every adviser should be in a position to provide clients with the flexibility and degree of personalisation offered by structured products. The complexity of these products means they have traditionally been issued by tier one banks with the necessary infrastructure, but Futora’s platform allows smaller players to participate in this lucrative market.
A broader range of offerings
One of an adviser’s first tasks is to find investment ideas that match a client’s risk appetite and targeted return.
In some cases, a conventional asset class such as an equity offering a linear return (exposure to a single asset that rises or falls in value) meets the client’s needs. Other times, a more bespoke option is required. Structured products use a derivative like a swap to provide exposure to an underlying asset class. They also offer either partial or full capital protection. This flexibility appeals to a client looking to hedge an existing position or to access an investment that would not normally be available, such as emerging market equity, precious metal or exotic currency. A structured product can even be designed to provide enhanced exposure paying two or three times the upside of the underlying asset.
Futora’s platform has automated the process of issuing and distributing structured products, allowing advisers at mid-size commercial banks to compete with rivals at bigger institutions while keeping the minimum investment as low as US$10,000.
Streamlined execution
Once a client approves a trade, it needs to be executed. For structured products, this process takes hours or days: the investment team must shop around with the sell-side to find the best deal which the adviser then shares with the client. The smaller the amount, the longer the adviser has to wait. Any adjustment to the product, such as the funding rate, means the investment team must start again.
Futora’s platform streamlines price discovery. It sources prices automatically from multiple issuers- as many variations as necessary- and sends quotes to a dashboard, rather than an email inbox. The whole process takes a matter of minutes, meaning the adviser can deliver the standard of service that clients expect from a tier one bank.
Post trade management
Advisers may have dozens or even hundreds of clients who want to monitor the performance of their investments and expect immediate answers to their questions about the product. Gathering data and transforming it into an understandable format is another time-consuming process as the adviser must request it from the investment team, keeping the client waiting and wasting time which would be better spent attracting new business.
Futora’s platform collates all this information and presents it in a single dashboard. It produces client reports and provides a calendar view of the different events that may affect the performance of a structured product, for example, the breach of a barrier providing downside protection or upcoming maturity date. The maturity date is particularly important information for an adviser as it prompts a discussion about recycling the client’s investment into another product.
