By Ian Lowes, MD of Lowes Financial Management

Investec may have pulled out of the retail structured product market but many of its plans continue to mature providing investors with strong returns.

Early in 2021, Investec reached the decision that structured products are no longer their preferred method of raising retail funding, shifting its focus to other core services.

Investec has been the dominant player in the sector since 2008, with a consistent range of both deposit and capital at risk products that have, with very few exceptions proven to be very beneficial for investors.

At the time of writing, 1,204 Investec structured products have matured and of these, all but 23 produced positive returns, with the 23 simply returning capital with no losses. The average return was 7.42% per annum – which by any measure is impressive.

Investec’s departure from the market is not therefore great for retail investors, or indeed their financial advisers who correctly identified the value in these propositions for their clients. All existing Investec structured products are unaffected by the decision to withdraw from the market and they continue to function as set out in the relevant brochure, including clients’ rights with regards to encashment.

Among the range of Investec products are a portfolio of joint collaborations with Lowes Financial Management; the Investec / Lowes 8:8 Plans, which continue to come to maturity.

So far this year six Investec/Lowes 8:8 Plans have matured (issues 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 & 9) and these, together with many others have significantly out-performed the underlying – most commonly the FTSE 100.

With thousands of IFA distributed structured products launched over the past few years there is a constant stream of maturities. The performance of these products is constantly tracked by Lowes.

Analysis of the recent Investec / Lowes 8:8 Plan maturities reveals:

Investec / Lowes 8:8 Plan 9

This plan matured early on its second anniversary (29 April 2021), returning investors’ original capital in full, in addition to a gain of 15.2%. Over the plan term the FTSE 100 Index to which the plan was linked, declined by 6.4%.

Investec /Lowes 8:8 Plan 5

This plan has matured early in its second year (22 April 2021), triggering the return of investors’ original capital in full, in addition to a gain of 20%. Over the plan term the FTSE 100 Index to which the plan was linked, declined by 1.5%.

Investec /Lowes 8:8 Plan 2

This plan has matured early on its third anniversary (19 April 2021), returning investors’ original capital in full, in addition to a gain of 24%. Over the plan term the FTSE 100 Index to which the plan was linked, declined by 4.3%.

Investec/Lowes 8:8 Plan 8

This plan matured early on its second anniversary (11 March 2021), returning investors’ original capital in full, in addition to a gain of 17%. Over the plan term the FTSE 100 Index to which the plan was linked, declined by 5.5%.

Investec/Lowes 8:8 Plan 1

This plan matured early on its third anniversary (8 March 2021), returning investors’ original capital in full, in addition to 22.5%. Over the plan term the FTSE 100 Index to which the plan was linked, declined by 6.7%.

Investec/ Lowes 8:8 Plan 7

This plan matured early on its second anniversary (28 January 2021), returning investors’ original capital in full, in addition to a gain of 16%. Over the plan term the FTSE 100 Index to which the plan was linked, declined by 3.3%.