Counterparty Risk

The last few months have seen a return of investor confidence, but the issue of counterparty risk is changing the structured products landscape. New types of products for retail investors are emerging, such as cash-collateralised and gilt backed products. Structured fund offerings are also increasingly being developed for retail, which help to mitigate exposure to single counterparties. However there are still concerns surrounding this issue. Can investors and IFAs rely on credit ratings? Can they look at CDS levels to judge counterparty risk and how can this be translated for retail inv...