TFS Structured Products

Bespoke Investment & Hedging Solutions

Who Are We?
who-are-we

Who are we?

TFS Structured Products is an independent structuring house with the expertise to design innovative derivative strategies for institutional clients. Since 2003, we have worked alongside our clients to create unbiased solutions that are effective, transparent and easy to implement.

our-group
 
Tradition Logo

TFS Structured Products is part of the Tradition Group and benefits from its strong infrastructure. We operate from offices across Europe and are authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Financials

 
about-us

About Us

The strength of the relationships we develop with our clients is driven by our team’s core values:

Independence and Expertise

We are independent from any of the issuers we use to implement our products. Our independence is the key to an unbiased approach and means that our clients can rely on our expertise in derivatives and cross-asset capabilities to achieve their objectives.

Professionalism and Excellence

The success of our team has been built on long-term relationships and recurrent business. We pursue excellence in everything we do and thrive to consistently exceed our clients’ expectations.

Team work and Service

Each client has access to all of the team resources. We deliver outstanding service by working on tailor-made solutions and offering comprehensive secondary market follow-up and risk management tools.

expertisequote

A proven track record of success in the design, implementation and risk management of structured solutions since 2003

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Our Team

Management

ERIC DEBRAY

Founder and Manager

Eric is an experienced derivatives professional with 20 years’ experience in the City. He has built and runs the successful international team within TFS since 2003 and enjoys as much as ever working on the ground to develop new products and provide an excellent service to clients. Eric particularly enjoys using his expertise to coach his team, providing them with opportunities to develop and succeed.

Eric holds an MSc in Finance from Sorbonne University and an MSc in Financial Markets from Dauphine University.


Structuring

Guillaume Pealat

Head of Quantitative Research and Structuring

Guillaume joined TFS Structured Products in 2007 and heads up our structuring team. Prior to joining TFS, he spent 4 years in Asia working for Mysis. Guillaume’s quantitative background enables him to translate effectively specific market opportunities into trade ideas that meet our clients’ investment and hedging needs. He regularly publishes our team’s research and enjoys running educational derivatives workshops.

Guillaume holds a “Diplôme d’Ingénieur” from “Ecole Centrale de Lyon”.

Salvador Salias, CFA

Quantitative Research and Structuring

Salvador joined TFS Structured Products in 2013 and is part of the structuring team where he focuses on pricing, quantitative analysis and managing the secondary market. He previously worked at GAM within the quantitative services team for fixed income and FX hedge funds.

Salvador holds an MSc in Financial Engineering from Imperial College London.


SALES

Caroline Lefort

Caroline started her career at TFS in 2007. Initially based in London, she moved to Switzerland in 2011 to set-up the Tradition SA Zürich office which she has been running successfully since then. Caroline is passionate about client service and building a long-term presence in Switzerland.

Caroline holds an MSc in Financial Markets and Investment from SKEMA Business School.

Alexander Rennie, CFA

Alexander started his career at TFS Structured Products in 2012. He has grown our presence in the UK and initiated our coverage of the MENA region and thus developed his expertise in specialist wrappers such as EIS or Sharia compliant vehicles. He enjoys building relationships and helping clients find derivative solutions that may not have previously been considered.

Alexander holds an MSc in Finance from Imperial College London.

Alex Fuchs

Alexander joined TFS Structured Products in 2017 and is based in London. His main focus is on expanding coverage in German-speaking countries. Prior to moving to the structured products area, he has worked in the derivatives valuation department of IHS Markit and KPMG Luxembourg.

Alexander holds a MSc in Banking and International Finance from CASS Business School.

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Join us

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structuring

Structuring

Our team specialises in tailor-made solutions and we commit to delivering a high level of service throughout the lifecycle of each product.

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Product Design

Bespoke Ideas tailored for our clients

Our structurers identify compelling trade ideas based on in-house quantitative analysis, independent macroeconomic research or specific investment and hedging needs.

These ideas are tailored to meet precisely the objectives and requirements of each client: risk / return, maturity, currency and secondary market behaviour are all considered.

We offer scenario analysis, back testing, stress-testing, mark-to-market simulations and clearly worded fact sheets to help our clients make sound and informed decisions.

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Best Execution

Access to over 15 Issuers

We have long standing relationships with over 15 issuers. This enables us to offer diversification to our clients together with competitive pricing.

Once fully calibrated, products are tendered to a pool of suitable issuers to determine optimal pricing conditions, and executed in accordance with our clients guidelines.

Products are securitised and settled through Euroclear or CREST. We trade as principal and have established relationships and credit lines with all major custodian banks.

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Post-Trade Service

Strong After Sales support

We understand the performance of a product matters not only at maturity but throughout its life in secondary market.

Secondary market and valuations

All our products benefit from secondary market liquidity under normal market conditions, with prices displayed on Bloomberg, Reuters, SIX-Telekurs and our website. Product valuations are checked for accuracy using LexiFi pricing models and in-house market parameters.

We offer a proactive follow-up of our products and monitor secondary market opportunities for our clients.

Risk management

We have developed a suite of online reporting and risk management tools to enhance transparency and facilitate decision-making.

products

Products

Our independence and breadth of market access allows us to provide a holistic approach to derivative solutions

In our view, structured products should be considered as a vehicle for an investment strategy.

Our bespoke approach to structuring means we work on a vast array of strategies with our clients:

  • Replication and market access
  • Smart Beta
  • Leverage
  • Yield enhancement
  • Relative value and market neutral strategies
  • Capital protection and Hedging
  • Quantitative and alternative strategies

All our products are securitised and transferable. They can therefore be dealt and settled like bonds and shares.

We use the issuance programmes of large financial institutions and have long standing relationships with over 15 issuers to ensure diversification. We can also offer collateralised solutions to mitigate the credit risk associated with financial issuers. The choice of issuance wrapper is important as it may impact investors (e.g. tax treatment). Depending on the strategy being implemented, products can be wrapped as:

  • Medium Term Notes
  • Certificates
  • Warrants
  • Preference Shares (EIS)
  • Special Purpose Vehicles
  • Sharia Compliant Vehicles

Products can be issued as either a private placement or a public offer. Listing on a recognised exchange is also available.

Minimum size required to issue a tailor-made product depends on the issuer, the payoff and the underlying. We will always advise on the appropriate size required to achieve competitive pricing conditions.

Most of our trade ideas can be packaged in funded or unfunded format.

In a funded trade (typically issued as a note or a certificate), the option or derivatives will be packaged with a debt instrument of the issuer and will generally be issued at face value (100% of the notional exposure). Investors are thus required to invest the full cash equivalent and bear the issuer’s credit risk on the whole notional.

In an unfunded trade (typically issued as a warrant), investors purchase solely the option or derivative component. The security will be issued at a fraction of face value (e.g. 5 or 10% of the notional exposure) and the cash amount required to implement the strategy is therefore reduced. Unfunded trades can be used as a portfolio overlay (hedging), to create synthetic exposure to an underlying, to implement leverage or for cash extraction purposes. Investors bear the issuer’s credit risk only on the value of the derivative.

Our structuring capabilities span all major asset classes

Our cross-asset expertise enables us to generate a constant flow of opportunistic trade ideas, meaning we can work with our clients on any segment of their portfolio. We can reference any underlying providing they are tradable and sufficiently liquid.

clients
Clients

Our independence and unbiased approach have enabled us to establish long-term client relationships based on trust, transparency and service. We cover a wide range of clients from the financial sector from wealth managers, family offices and funds to treasuries, insurance companies and pension funds

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