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The performance of individual investors in structured financial products

Author

Listed:
  • Oliver Entrop

    (University of Passau)

  • Michael McKenzie

    (University of Liverpool Management School
    University of Sydney Business School)

  • Marco Wilkens

    (University of Augsburg)

  • Christoph Winkler

    (University of Augsburg)

Abstract

This paper is the first to measure individual investors’ realized risk-adjusted performance in structured financial products, which represent one of the key financial innovations in recent times. Based on a large database of trades and portfolio holdings for 10,652 retail investors in discount and bonus certificates and common stocks, we find that (1) investors typically realize negative alphas in structured financial products, even when transaction costs are ignored. (2) Their underperformance increases with product complexity, which results from the higher implicit price premiums charged by the issuing banks for the more complex products and from the investors’ poor selection of products that have complex payoff specifications. (3) Investors also make poor choices when selecting the underlying assets for their structured product investments. This is merely a reflection of the poor stock selection abilities which also leads to a significant underperformance for their equity portfolios. (4) Certificate and stock investors are prone to the disposition effect. Overall, these findings suggest that retail investors may require some form of protection to avoid incurring these losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Entrop & Michael McKenzie & Marco Wilkens & Christoph Winkler, 2016. "The performance of individual investors in structured financial products," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 569-604, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:46:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s11156-014-0479-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-014-0479-8
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    6. Baller, Stefanie & Entrop, Oliver & Schober, Alexander & Wilkens, Marco, 2017. "What drives performance in the speculative market of short-term exchange-traded retail products?," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Betriebswirtschaftliche Reihe B-26-17, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
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    8. Kunz, Alexis H. & Messner, Claude & Wallmeier, Martin, 2017. "Investors’ risk perceptions of structured financial products with worst-of payout characteristics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 66-73.
    9. Zongrun Wang & Mei Yang, 2020. "Effective allocation of financial services intensity and its impact on channel competition," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(8), pages 1473-1492, December.
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    11. Baule, Rainer & Münchhalfen, Patrick & Shkel, David & Tallau, Christian, 2023. "Fair-washing in the market for structured retail products? Voluntary self-regulation versus government regulation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
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    20. Abreu, Margarida & Mendes, Victor, 2018. "The investor in structured retail products: Advice driven or gambling oriented?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 1-9.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Structured products; Derivatives; Complexity; Financial innovation; Investor behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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