The International Structured Products Forum (ISPF) concluded in Interlaken last week with an optimistic tone, as favorable stock market conditions and robust sales figures lifted sentiment among participants in the structured products industry.
The annual gathering, organized by the SIX Group and the Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA), was held in Interlaken this year rather than its usual venue in Lucerne. The SSPA recently marked its 20th anniversary in Zurich.
Multiple-time Swiss Ironman world champion Daniela Ryf, who retired from competition two years ago, delivered the keynote address. She discussed the discipline, resilience and mental fitness that carried her to the top of endurance sport, and later addressed her post-competitive career, including the work of the Daniela Ryf Foundation she founded.
The mood on the floor was notably more upbeat than at last year's Lucerne edition, with speakers and attendees citing positive equity market development and strong product sales as key drivers.
On the regulatory front, Daniel Häberli, a partner at Homburger and head of legal and regulation at the SSPA, said the Swiss regulatory focus has remained on too-big-to-fail issues, with no new structured-product-specific rules introduced in recent months. He indicated the association would intensify its dialogue with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) on self-regulation.
In the European Union, Christian Vollmuth, CEO of the German Federal Association for Structured Securities, noted that while the European Commission has bundled omnibus decrees across several policy areas to reduce regulatory density and improve competitiveness, no equivalent omnibus package exists for the financial services sector. Despite repeated emphasis on a capital markets union — now referred to as the European Savings and Investment Union — the financial services space remains subject to an ever-denser regulatory framework.
Vollmuth described the EU's Retail Investment Strategy as a "total disaster," arguing it has led private investors to allocate less, not more, capital to financial markets. He compared the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to an octopus, saying the body has been expanding its mandate beyond clearly defined limits, complicating sensible country-specific regulation.
Georg von Wattenwyl, SSPA president and a representative of Bank Vontobel, struck a bullish note for structured products, saying they are becoming an increasingly fixed part of client conversations. Vontobel announced the day before the forum that it would relocate out of the city of Zurich.
The structured products industry, which has navigated multiple regulatory and market cycles over the past three decades, emerged from the forum with its resilience undiminished.
