Structured products are very popular in Europe and in Australasia, and are becoming more popular in the USA. Figure 2 shows that structured products are one of the fastest growing areas within the financial services sector. In 2002 about USD 65 billion of these products were being issued to retail clients in Europe, whereas by 2006 this had grown to over USD 180 billion of new issues per annum. In 2002 about USD 20 billion was issued to retail clients in Asia, whereas by 2006 the volume was closer to USD 100 billion. These sales considerably understate the flows.
