Participation
Twin-Win Certificate
Twin-Win certificates are a special variant of the bonus certificate that generate a positive return on their investment in bullish as well as bearish markets, as long as the underlying asset price doesn't decrease by too much and breaches through a predetermined barrier.
Tracker Certificates
A Tracker certificate has an identical payoff profile as the underlying asset upon which it is based. As such, there is no optionality involved in this product category.
Bonus Certificates
Bonus certificates are participation products that feature full upside participation and a conditional capital protection as long as the underlying asset doesn’t cross a predefined threshold (barrier).
Airbag Certificates
Airbag certificates fully participate to the upside price performance of an underlying asset and have a certain amount of downside protection down to which the investor doesn’t incur any losses. In other words, as long as the underlying asset doesn’t lose more than a predefined level, the capital is 100% protected. That level is called the airbag, named after the automobile safety system placed in the steering wheel that lessens the injuries in case of an accident. Below the airbag level, the product starts to decrease in value at a leveraged pace compared to the underlying asset. However, it stays above the underlying asset until the asset loses all value. In essence, the product is not unlike Bonus Certificates, with the one big difference that the Airbag doesn’t knock-out. It stays until the maturity of the product no matter what. Hence, there is no gap (no vertical line in the payoff diagram) as in the Bonus certificate.