Structured Notes Offered on an Agency Basis -

In our last issue, we discussed the potential impact of the Department of Labor’s new rules on sales of structured products. In that article, we discussed some of the reasons why future sales of structured notes to retirement accounts may be preferable to effect on an agency basis, as opposed to on an underwritten basis.

However, due to the predominance of underwritten offerings in the structured products space, we find that not all market participants are familiar with the agented format. Accordingly, in this article, we describe some of the aspects of these types of offerings, and how they vary from current practices.