Advisors play a key role in the customer journey, acting as the main point of contact for a client throughout the lifetime of the relationship. Delivering an optimal experience maximises the value of this relationship and builds loyalty.

Every advisor should be in a position to provide clients with the flexibility and degree of personalisation offered by structured products. The complexity of these products means they have traditionally been issued by tier one banks with the necessary infrastructure, but Futora’s platform allows smaller players to participate in this lucrative market.

Broader range of offerings

One of an advisor’s first tasks is to find investment ideas that match a client’s risk appetite and targeted return.

In some cases, a conventional asset class such as an equity offering a linear return (exposure to a single asset that rises or falls in value) meets the client’s needs. Other times, a more bespoke option is required. Structured products use a derivative like a swap to provide exposure to an underlying asset class. They also offer either partial or full capital protection. This flexibility appeals to a client looking to hedge an existing position or to access an investment that wouldn’t normally be available, such as an emerging market equity, a precious metal or an exotic currency. A structured product can even be designed to provide enhanced exposure paying two or three times the upside of the underlying asset.

Futora’s platform has automated the process of issuing and distributing structured products, allowing advisors at mid-size commercial banks to compete with rivals at bigger institutions while keeping the minimum investment as low as $10,000.

Streamlined execution

Once a client approves a trade, it needs to be executed. For structured products, this process takes hours or days: the investment team must shop around with the sellside to find the best deal which the advisor then shares with the client. The smaller the amount, the longer the advisor has to wait. Any adjustment to the product, such as the funding rate, means the investment team must start again.

Futora’s platform streamlines price discovery. It sources prices automatically from multiple issuers- as many variations as necessary- and sends quotes to a dashboard, rather than an email inbox. The whole process takes a matter of minutes, meaning the advisor can deliver the standard of service that clients expect from a tier one bank.

Post trade management

Advisors may have dozens or even hundreds of clients who want to monitor the performance of their investments and expect immediate answers to their questions about the product. Gathering data and transforming it into an understandable format is another time-consuming process as the advisor must request it from the investment team, keeping the client waiting and wasting time which would be better spent attracting new business.

Futora’s platform collates all this information and presents it in a single dashboard. It produces client reports and provides a calendar view of the different events that may affect the performance of a structured product, for example the breach of a barrier providing downside protection or an upcoming maturity date. The maturity date is particularly important information for an advisor as it prompts a discussion about recycling the client’s investment into another product.

To learn more about how Futora’s platform streamlines an advisor’s workflow, arrange a demo today.