Announcing the 2014 Greenwich Leaders

While total notional volumes in U.S. retail structured products remained relatively flat, only declining about 3% from 2013 to 2014, volumes among third-party distributors jumped over 50%.

“Creditworthiness continues to recede as a concern for clients. We are now seeing product manufacturers differentiating more based on understanding clients’ needs, having innovative products and providing additional marketing support,” says Greenwich Associates consultant David Stryker. “Nevertheless, pricing remains the most important key selection factor as cited by 76% of third-party distributors and 60% of affiliated distributors in a recent Greenwich Associates study.”

2014 Greenwich Share and Quality Leaders
The U.S. retail structured product market is again dominated by HSBC, J.P. Morgan and Barclays. However, investors’ ebbing concern with credit risk, coupled with a number of banks stepping back from the market, has allowed banks outside the Top 3 to make meaningful progress in their footprint. BNP Paribas has grown more than any other bank and is starting to close the gap on the market leaders.

HSBC and J.P. Morgan are the clear leaders with market penetration scores of 76% and 75%, respectively, followed closely by Barclays with 69%. BNP Paribas has leapfrogged into the fourth spot with a score of 45%.

Rounding out the 2014 Greenwich Share Leaders in U.S. Retail Structured Products are Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, tied at 27%, and Citi at 24%. The 2014 Greenwich Quality Leader in U.S. Retail Structured Products is HSBC.