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The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today released a new Survey on the Sale of Non-exchange Traded Investment Products based on responses to a questionnaire sent to 1,611 licensed corporations (Note 1).
The SFC conducted this survey with an aim to understand the industry landscape and to obtain an overview of the types and value of investment products sold by licensed corporations. This information helps the SFC supervise selling practices.
The survey results showed that the number of licensed corporations engaged in the sale of investment products during the year ended 31 March 2016 increased to 244, up 15% from 213 in the 2014 survey. The aggregate transaction amount (Note 2) of investment products dropped by 19%, from $468 billion in the previous survey, to $380 billion. The decrease was mainly due to reduced demand for interest rate swaps from individual investors.
This year’s findings showed that a wide range of investment products was offered. Structured investment products continued to be the most popular product type accounting for 44% of the aggregate transaction amount.
Notes:
- The response rate to the survey was 99%.
- The transaction amount for investment products refers to the amount paid or payable by investors. For leveraged products, the transaction amount represents the maximum exposure of contracts. In this survey, licensed corporations were requested to report only one-sided transactions and rollover, redemption, and close-out positions were excluded.
