.jpg)
Euronext, the pan-European stock exchange, is delighted to have been named Exchange of the Year in Structured Products magazine's European Awards for 2006. This is welcome recognition for the work Euronext has put in and the effective innovation it has deployed in the field of listed structured products including warrants, certificates and structured funds.
Marianne Demarchi, Executive Director, Cash Markets & Listing, in charge of Marketing
and Business Development at Euronext, comments:
“We are naturally more than pleased to
have won the Exchange of the Year award in the structured products category, demonstrating as it
does the success of the efforts we have put into this market segment, in particular over the past
two years. We will be building on those successes to further develop the sector in cooperation with
issuers and regulators.”
Oliver Gentier, Head of Marketing France, Listed Products, at Société Générale, adds:
“Euronext's support for the development of the market in warrants and certificates has enabled us
to expand our own offering with innovative products based on varied underlying assets to match
customers' specific needs.”
“Euronext's rapid success in expanding, integrating and cementing its structured products part of its
business makes it a clear winner in this year's Exchange of the Year, Europe. Our editorial panel
was particularly impressed at how Euronext has become the European hub for listed knock out
products. What's more the market really does appreciate the constant innovations by the exchange”
says Paul Lyon, founding editor of Structured Products magazine, the global magazine
covering derivatives-based investments.
Over the past two years, Euronext has made the fast-growing structured-product segment a priority for all of its markets. Its share of the total European market in certificates and warrants thus rose from 7.7% in June 2005 to 12.2% in the same month of this year1, placing it among the leaders in the field.
Growth has been driven by commitment to three priorities — technical progress, product innovation and effective marketing.
- As regards technology, a special trading segment was set up under the name NextWarrants in 2003 to back market expansion. More recently the products concerned have benefited from a 100% increase in the capacity of Euronext's NSC trading platform. In July 2006 new Linux- IBM based technologies were introduced on the NextWarrants segment, making for greater flexibility and higher levels of performance. Together, these initiatives have led to significant improvement in market quality for investors.
- At the same time, Euronext has worked in close cooperation with issuers and regulators to fuel a steady flow of product innovation. This year, growth has benefited in particular from a widening range of underlying assets, with products for both professional and retail investors based on interest rates, bond futures and commodities. New product types have also been introduced, including short-term high leverage products, open ended performance-trading investment and listed structured funds. The breadth of the range of structured products thus offers investors the scope they need to select those best matching their individual strategies and needs.
- Finally, marketing has played an effective role in promoting warrants and certificates, with an active communications campaign targeting financial intermediaries and retail investors. In addition, the implementation by the end of the year of a breakdown by product type will allow investors to more easily identify the key features of each warrant and certificate and the way it works. This is in keeping with Euronext's consistent commitment to meeting market users' needs, which was also illustrated in November 2004 with Euronext Lisbon's launch of an unregulated market for warrants and certificates under the name EasyNext.
1 Source: FESE (Federation of European Securities Exchanges)
