### Introduction

Structured financial instruments comprise a range of products designed to repackage and redistribute risk. They are pre-packaged investments based on a single security, a basket of securities, options, commodities, debt issuance or foreign currencies, and to a lesser extent, derivatives. They include asset-backed securities (ABS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOS).

There is no universally accepted taxonomy used to subdivide and classify structured financial instruments. For the purpose of this reading, we look at four categories:

### Yield Enhancement Instrument

Yield enhancement instruments offer the potential for a higher expected return, subject to increased risk. A good example would be a credit-linked note (CLN). The note offers fixed coupon payments but a redemption value that depends on the occurrence of a well-defined credit event, such as a rating downgrade or the default of an underlying asset, called the reference asset.

A credit-linked note allows the issuer to transfer a given credit (risk) event to investors. If the event does not occur, the investor is entitled to the full par value of the CLN. If the event occurs, the par value of the CLN is reduced by the nominal value of the reference asset to which the CLN is linked.

### Participating Instrument

A participating instrument allows investors to participate in the return of an underlying asset. A good example would be a floating rate bond whose coupon rate adjusts periodically according to a pre-specified formula – usually a reference rate plus a risk margin (spread). For instance, the Italian government in 2005 issued 15-year floaters with a coupon rate equivalent to 85% of the 10-year constant maturity swap rate. Thus, it gave investors the opportunity to “tie” their returns to the movement of the 10-year constant maturity swap rate.

### Leveraged Instruments

These are instruments created to magnify returns and offer the possibility of high payoffs from small investments. A good example would be an inverse floater whose cash flows are adjusted periodically and move in the opposite direction of changes in the reference rate.

Inverse floater coupon rate = C – (L × R)

Where:

C is the maximum coupon rate reached if the reference rate is equal to zero,

L is the coupon leverage, and

R is the reference rate on the reset date

The coupon leverage is a multiple by which the coupon rate changes in response to a 100 basis points change in the reference rate. For example, if the coupon leverage is two, the inverse floater’s coupon rate will decrease by 00 bps when the reference rate increases by 100 bps.

### Capital Protected Products

CPPs offer a guaranteed repayment of principle (upon maturity) as well as the opportunity to participate in price gains of some underlying instrument.

### Example:

Let’s assume an investor has $100,000 available for investment. They can buy a zero-coupon bond at$99,000, to receive $100,000 at maturity. They can then use the$1,000 left to purchase a call option on some underlying asset. At that point, the two investments can be prepackaged to form a capital protected product, as shown below:

On one side we have the zero-coupon bond which provides the investor capital protection; at maturity, the investor is guaranteed of 100% of the capital invested even if the call option expires worthless. On the other, we have the call option which provides unlimited upside potential (if the call is in-the-money at expiry) while limiting the downside to the price (premium) paid. In our example, the investor would lose a maximum of \$1,000 – the price paid for the option.

### Question

An inverse floater uses the 3-month US Treasury bill rate as the reference rate. As of 31st March 20X9, the US T-bill rate stood at 1.66%. Given that the fixed rate is 20% and the coupon rate changes by a factor of 2 in response to a 100 basis points change in the reference rate, the floater’s coupon rate is closest to:

1. 16%
2. 15%
3.  17%

Coupon Rate = Fixed rate K – (Coupon Leverage L x Reference Rate R) = K – (L x R)

Fixed Rate = 20%,
Coupon Leverage = 2
Reference Rate = 3-month Treasury bill rate = 1.5%

Therefore Coupon Rate = 20% – (2 x 1.66%) = 20% – 3.0% = 16.68%

describe structured financial instruments

Fixed Income – Learning Sessions

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