Hi Brendan,
I'm aware of a wholesale developer of these products who charges, for example, 1.35% on a 3 year 11 months product. Intermediary commission is in addition to this. So if an intermediary took another 1.35%, that's commission of 2.7%. To me, this seems like a reasonable margin for not having to DIY. Remember these are mass-market products and the average bakery owner knows or cares as much about buying an option as I do about baking pies.
With a DIY product, presumably you have to work out and return your own tax liability on the option. With a packaged product, the return from the option is put into the deposit and DIRT tax is paid for you before you get your money back at maturity. That alone to me would be worth 2.7%.
I'd agree with your point about highlighting non-participation in dividends. If you're offering 100% participation and a capital guarantee, effectively the dividend growth and access to your capital is what you're giving up in return for the capital guarantee. If you don't like that price for a capital guarantee, buy into the index with dividend re-investment and take your chances with the ups and downs.
Having a series of products tracking different indices would be nice but not practical, unless you were sure of demand for each one, in order to book the relevant options at the suitable price.