Nomura will launch its first fund-linked products in the next few weeks. Mike Fullalove, managing director in product development and fund derivatives in London, said the Japanese house has several deals in the pipeline. Its first two issues will be a capital-protected fund of funds and a hedge fund index product.
The bank will structure capital protection for fund-linked investment products and will also provide financing for fund of funds. Nomura will use constant proportion portfolio insurance as well as write options, said Fullalove.
Nomura is building its fund-linked business from scratch and is also expanding its equity derivatives effort. Last week it announced it has hired John Robson, responsible for product development and marketing at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, to head equity derivatives sales in Asia.
