Like rich food and fine wine, in the world of structured products it is possible to have too much of a good thing. The cause of indigestion among dealers today is the autocallable bond. The high-yielding debt and equity hybrid was once a peripheral retail product, but now represents 80% of equity-related structured note issuance in Europe and Asia.

A torrid fourth quarter across global equity markets left Natixis with a €260 million hit on its Korean autocall book. Other major issuers of the