Marketing OTC equity derivatives: the role of relationships

In 1997, in this journal, Elizabeth Sheedy published a paper investigating exchange relationships in derivative markets. This paper was significant for two reasons. It was the first article to consider the marketing of these important financial instruments. Second, her article set out a forceful argument that relationships in this context were breaking down, and that the advantages associated with a relationship model of exchange had not appeared, and indeed had to some extent facilitated the series of well publicised derivative disasters. In this paper, the authors respond to Sheedy’s call for further research through an empirical examination of the over‐the‐counter equity derivatives market in the USA and Britain, arguing that while relationships in this market do, to a limited degree, exhibit characteristics atypical of wider financial services contexts, the relationship paradigm continues to be relevant, and indeed inherent, to over‐the‐counter derivative exchange.