Structured Conversations: Asia to Europe - Key Themes from a Month on the Ground

Insights from Jeremy Dominh, Head of Structured Products & QIS

Issue #1 - May 2026

Over the past month, conversations across Singapore and Paris highlighted a market environment that continues to evolve unevenly across regions, investor types, and regulatory frameworks.

Representing the Structured Products and QIS division, Jeremy Dominh participated in two major industry events:

• The Markets Group Private Wealth Asia Forum in Singapore (7th edition) ‍
• SRP France 2026 in Paris (9th edition)

While both conferences focused on investment innovation and portfolio construction, the tone, maturity, and appetite for emerging themes — particularly crypto-related structured solutions — varied significantly.

This first edition summarizes the key observations, recurring discussions, and strategic themes emerging from both events.

Singapore: Curiosity, Openness, and Expanding Alternatives

Markets Group Private Wealth Asia Forum

The Markets Group Private Wealth Asia Forum brought together a highly allocator-focused audience, heavily skewed toward single family offices alongside private banks and specialized service providers.

Across discussions, the dominant investment themes remained:

• Private Equity
• Private Credit
• Traditional alternatives
• Select public market opportunities

While crypto-related discussions remained a smaller portion of the agenda, interest levels were materially higher than expected.

Crypto: Interest Ahead of Product Familiarity

A recurring observation throughout the forum was that many participants displayed broad curiosity around digital assets as an asset class, yet familiarity with derivatives and structured crypto solutions remains relatively limited.

The conversations suggested that investors are moving beyond the question of whether crypto belongs in portfolios and increasingly toward how exposure can be implemented responsibly.

This gap between interest and implementation sophistication creates a meaningful opportunity for education-driven engagement.

AI, Automation, and the Next Wave of Structuring

Jeremy’s panel focused on the intersection of:

• AI
• Automation
• Structured investing
• Crypto-related applications

The broader conference agenda remained diverse and relatively high level, with most sessions centered on traditional asset classes and private markets.

However, AI consistently emerged as a cross-cutting theme:

• operational efficiency
• investment research augmentation
• portfolio customization
• workflow automation
• client servicing

The discussion reinforced a growing industry belief that AI is likely to reshape not only asset management workflows, but also how structured products are designed, distributed, and personalized over time.

Paris: Tradition, Regulation, and Product Simplicity

SRP France 2026

SRP France remains one of the reference events for the structured derivatives industry in Europe.

The audience was composed primarily of:

• French investment banks and structured products trading desks
• Asset managers
• Insurers
• Financial intermediaries

The event also served as an opportunity to reconnect with long-standing market participants and institutional counterparts, including teams from:

• Société Générale
• Natixis
• Credit Suisse
• Leonteq

Traditional Asset Classes Still Dominate

Unlike the more exploratory tone seen in Singapore, conversations in Paris remained heavily concentrated on traditional asset classes.

Equities and rates continue to dominate structured product flows, while FX remains marginal and crypto-related discussions are still at a very early stage.

Outside of our own participation, digital assets were largely absent from the broader conference agenda.

The overall market posture toward crypto in France appeared to be:

• tactical rather than strategic
• cautious rather than expansionary
• observational rather than fully participatory

Why Adoption Remains Slow

Several structural factors continue to constrain broader adoption of crypto-linked structured products across the French market.

Regulatory Complexity

The European framework remains demanding, particularly across:

• MiCA
• MiFID II
• PRIIPS

These requirements create significant operational, disclosure, and distribution hurdles for newer asset classes.

Market Environment

The broader digital asset bear market and a series of recent industry scandals continue to weigh on investor confidence.

At the same time, recent issues surrounding decrement-index autocallables have accelerated demand for:

• simpler structures
• improved transparency
• more easily explainable payoffs

Distribution Dynamics

Distribution channels themselves also shape product adoption.

Approximately:

• 85% of volumes flow through life insurance wrappers
• 15% through EAMs (External Asset Managers)  and direct investment channels

Life insurance platforms remain conservative by nature and typically move slowly when onboarding new asset classes or more complex investment solutions.

This creates an environment where innovation progresses incrementally rather than rapidly.

Cross-Regional Takeaways

Despite the differences between Singapore and Paris, several common themes emerged.

1. Traditional Alternatives Remain Dominant

Private equity, private credit, and traditional structured solutions continue to attract the majority of institutional attention.

2. Crypto Interest Is Growing — But Unevenly

Investor curiosity is clearly increasing globally, though adoption maturity varies significantly by region.

Asia appears more exploratory and open to discussion, while Europe — particularly France — remains heavily influenced by regulatory and distribution constraints.

3. Simplicity Matters Again

Across markets, investors appear to favor:

• transparent structures
• understandable payoffs
• operational clarity
• robust risk framing

Complexity for its own sake is losing appeal.

4. AI Is Becoming a Universal Theme

Even when not central to the agenda, AI surfaced repeatedly across discussions.

The technology is increasingly viewed not as a standalone trend, but as an enabling layer across:

• structuring
• client servicing
• execution
• analytics
• distribution

‍

Looking Ahead

As structured products markets continue to evolve globally, regional differences remain significant — but so do the common pressures shaping the industry:

• regulation
• transparency
• product simplicity
• operational efficiency
• investor education
• digital asset integration

The conversations in Singapore and Paris reinforced that innovation is still moving forward, though at very different speeds depending on the market.

The next phase for the industry may not be driven by entirely new asset classes alone, but by how effectively firms combine technology, education, and product design within increasingly constrained regulatory environments.

Series Note

This article launches our new monthly series summarizing key conversations, observations, and market themes from across the Structured Products and QIS landscape.

Issue #2 will be released at the end of June 2026.

Topics expected to feature in the next edition include:

• evolving demand for AI-enabled structuring tools
• the return of yield-driven products
• allocator sentiment heading into H2 2026
• cross-border regulatory developments
• digital asset positioning across private wealth channels

Stay tuned for the next installment.