A structured product, also known as a market-linked investment, is a pre-packaged structured finance investment strategy based on a single security, a basket of securities, options, indices, commodities, debt issuance or foreign currencies, and to a lesser extent, derivatives. Structured products are not homogeneous — there are numerous varieties of derivatives and underlying assets — but they can be classified under the aside categories. Typically, a desk will employ a specialized "structurer" to design and manage its structured-product offering. Formal definitions U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 434 (regarding certain prospectus deliveries) defines structured securities as "securities whose cash flow characteristics depend upon one or more indices or that have embedded forwards or options or securities where an investor's investment return and the issuer's payment obligations are contingent on, or highly sensitive to, changes in the value of underlying assets, indices, interest rates or cash flows". Utility From the investor's point of view, the concept of structuring means customizing a specified return stream; structured products can be used as an alternative to a direct investment, as part of the asset allocation process to reduce risk exposure of a portfolio, or to utilize the current market trend. From the issuer's point of view, structuring means that a number of existing financial products are combined to achieve the client's desired return function. Theoretically an investor can do this themselves, but the cost and transaction volume requirements of many options and swaps are beyond many individual investors. As such, structured products were created to meet specific needs that cannot be met from the standardized financial instruments available in the markets. The more outlandish the idea and with less time to play out, the cheaper pricing will naturally be (see moneyness). Two typical use cases: An investor dislikes a specific stock and does not want to hold it in their portfolio, but knows how much regret a 20 percent rise in the stock would cause. Therefore, the investor chooses to purchase a structured product on the stock instead: an agreement ('contract', 'certificate', 'note') with another entity (e.g. a bank) that pays out the full return on the given stock, but only if the stock surpasses a specified threshold, such as this 20%, over a specified time period. This product is known as a market-linked note. Numerous combinations of conditions and assets are available to construct this, see below, and the pricing is then