SP Intelligence Awards

The SP Intelligence Awards for Excellence recognise the very best in the industry – institutions that not only strive for greatness, but consistently deliver measurable impact, sustained innovation, and market-leading performance.

What sets the SP Intelligence Awards apart is the depth, independence, and rigor of our evaluation process. Winners are not selected through popularity or superficial metrics. Instead, each participant is assessed using our proprietary, independent data, combined with detailed submissions outlining achievements, innovations, and performance over the past 12 months. This is further reinforced by the collection of consistent, comparable data across all participants, enabling a truly objective benchmarking of competing banks.

As a result, these awards are among the most difficult to win and carry one of the highest reputations in the market.

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2026 Award Categories

  • This award recognizes the leading derivatives house dedicated to hedge structured products and Equity Derivatives. The winner demonstrates excellence in innovation, pricing, and issuance of the most structured products for the US market, as indicated by SPI’s league tables. Each broker-dealer and independent broker-dealer will be part of jury, responsible for ranking the finalists based on their performance.

    Shortlist

    • Bank of America

    • BNP Paribas

    • Goldman Sachs

    • JPMorgan Chase

    • Morgan Stanley

Structured Products

  • RIA Platform providers submitting for this award will need to send a submission to demonstrate a proven track record of the quality of their services, including cutting-edge technology, post-sales support, and educational support.

    Shortlist

    • CAIS

    • iCapital

    • Vizibility

  • This award recognizes the issuer of MLCDs that delivered the highest innovation, best pricing, and issuance (using SPI’s league tables).

    Shortlist

    • Goldman Sachs

    • HSBC

    • JPMorgan Chase

  • This award recognizes the best wirehouse in the U.S. for structured products. The winner will be selected based on its position in the sector and the breadth of offering and post-sales service.

    Shortlist

    • J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

    • Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

    • UBS Financial Services Inc.

  • This award recognizes the issuer of structured products that delivered the highest innovation, best pricing and issuance of the most structured products for the RegS market (using SPIs league tables).

    Shortlist

    • BBVA

    • Crédit Agricole CIB

    • Morgan Stanley

QIs & Annuities

  • This award recognizes the best annuity available to consumers over the past 12 months. The jury will primarily consider investors success (total AUM gathered), innovation and estimated performance to investors.

    Shortlist

    • Allianz Life Allianz Benefit
      Control+ Annuity

    • Athene Annuity Athene Ascent Pro 10

    • Fidelity and Guaranty Life Safe Income Advantage

  • This award recognizes the best new index of the year, which outlines the performance, risk diversification and value to investors.

    Shortlist

    • Athene / BNP Paribas Multi Asset Diversified 5 Index

    • BlackRock US Equity Bitcoin Balanced Risk 10% Index

    • S&P 500® Distance Stabilizer TCA Index

  • This award recognizes the leading Issuer in USA. The winner demonstrates excellence in innovation (number of payoffs and unique underlyings offered), performance (average return on expired/matured products), and market share (by volume) and growth of the USA market, as indicated by SPI’s league table.

    Shortlist

    • Bank of America

    • BNP Paribas

    • Goldman Sachs

    • JPMorgan Chase

    • Morgan Stanley

  • Independent broker-dealers submitted for this award will need to demonstrate a proven track record of the quality of their services to the Financial Advisors community including innovation, post-sales, and education support.

    Shortlist

    • LPL Financial

    • Raymond James & Associates

    • Stifel Nicolaus & Company Incorporated

  • This award celebrates the distributor of structured products that had highest growth across US. Each candidate will be analyzed by their growth, size of team and expansion of platform.

    Shortlist

    • Citigroup Global Markets Inc.

    • J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

    • LPL Financial

  • This award recognizes the provider with higher market share hedging derivatives with carriers and those which provide better post-sales service and the delivery of innovation (submission-based).

    Shortlist

    • BNP Paribas

    • Goldman Sachs

    • JPMorgan Chase

  • This award recognizes the best non-traditional index provider of the year, which outlines its methodology and value to investors.

    Shortlist

    • Barclays

    • MerQube

    • Société Générale CIB

  • This award celebrates the provider of structured products that had highest growth across US. Each candidate should submit an editorial highlighting growth, size of team, and any other information that helps recognize the winner.

    Shortlist

    • Goldman Sachs

    • Natixis

    • Nomura America Finance, LLC

  • This award recognizes the best wholesaler in the U.S. for structured products. The winner will be selected based on its position in the sector and the breadth of offering and post-sales service.

    Shortlist

    • First Trust

    • iCapital

    • InspereX

  • This award recognizes the ETF issuer that has most effectively translated structured product payoffs – buffers, caps, and defined-outcome strategies – into the ETF wrapper. The jury will consider AUM growth, number of new fund launches, tracking and replication precision against stated outcomes, and innovation in payoff design over the past 12 months (using SPI’s ETF data, supported by issuer submissions).

    Shortlist

    • Calamos Autocallable Income
      ETF (CAIE)

    • iCapital m+ DynaBuffer ETF

    • REX Autocallable Income ETF

  • This award recognizes the issuer of structured products that delivered the highest innovation, best pricing and issuance of the most structured products for the 3a2 market (using SPIs league tables).

    Shortlist

    • BBVA

    • BNP Paribas

    • Société Générale CIB

  • Carriers submitted for this award should demonstrate a proven track record in best-in-class AUM, client service, diversification, and innovation.

    Shortlist

    • Allianz Life of North America

    • Athene Annuity & Life

    • Corebridge Financial

  • The independent jury will recognize the best deal of the year, taking into account deal significance, innovation, and financial impact.

    Shortlist

    • Calamos Autocallable Growth
      ETF (CAGE)

    • Morgan Stanley Dual Directional Auto-Callable Trigger PLUS on SpaceX

    • Stifel - the Reverse-Engineered Basket

Each Award for Excellence is granted only to the participant that demonstrates clear and outstanding leadership in its category. Criteria include market share, sustained growth, relative outperformance versus peers, and the ability to adapt to evolving market conditions and client needs - particularly through meaningful innovation.
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Following the submission process, our team of researchers, together with an independent jury, conducts a comprehensive and meticulous review of every entry.

Thank you for your continued support of the awards. We look forward to welcoming you to our events.

Previous winners

    • Derivatives House 2025 - BNP Paribas CIB

    • Best Issuer - J.P. Morgan

    • Issuer Rising Star - Jefferies

    • Deal of the Year - Calamos Investments Autocallable Income ETF

    • Best RIA Platform - CAIS

    • Best Independent Broker Dealer - LPL Financial

    • Best Wholesaler - iCapital

    • Best MLCD Provider - HSBC

    • Best Broker Dealer - UBS Financial Services Inc

    • Distributor Rising Star - Raymond James

    • Best Offshore Issuer - BBVA

    • Hall of Fame - Brandon Igyarto

  • Best Annuity - Allianz Life Allianz Benefit Control Annuity

    Best Hedge Provider - BNP Paribas CIB

    Best Carrier - Athene Annuity & Life

    Best New Index - Bloomberg Versa 10 Index

    Best Non-Traditional Index Provider - BNP Paribas CIB

    • Derivatives House 2024 - J.P. Morgan

    • Best Issuer - J.P. Morgan

    • Issuer Rising Star - Bank of America

    • Deal of the Year - J.P. Morgan - Uncapped Accelerated Barrier Notes Linked to the MerQube US Large-Cap Vol Advantage Index

    • Best RIA Platform - iCapital

    • Best Independent Broker Dealer - LPL Financial

    • Best Wholesaler - iCapital

    • Best MLCD Provider - HSBC

    • Best Broker Dealer - UBS Financial Services Inc

    • Best Offshore Issuer - BNP Paribas CIB

    • Hall of Fame - Tom Layton

  • Best Annuity - Power Index 5 Plus Annuity by Corebridge Financial

    Best Hedge Provider - BNP Paribas CIB

    Best Carrier - Athene Annuity & Life

    Best New Index - First Trust Barclays Edge Index

    Best Non-Traditional Index Provider - Bank of America

    • Derivatives House 2023 - Goldman Sachs

    • Best Issuer - J.P. Morgan

    • Issuer Rising Star - Toronto-Dominion Bank

    • Best RIA Platform - CAIS

    • Best Independent Broker Dealer - iCapital

    • Best Broker Dealer - Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

    • Best Offshore Issuer - Crédit Agricole CIB

    • Hall of Fame - Mark Landers

    • Best Annuity - Allianz Benefit Control Annuity by Allianz Life

    • Best Hedge Provider - Goldman Sachs

    • Best Carrier - Athene Annuity & Life

    • Best New Index - Janus SG Lighthouse Index

    • Best Performance FIA - Athene/Annexus

    • Best Non-Traditional Index Provider - BNP Paribas

    • Best Traditional Index Provider - S&P Dow Jones