Barclays Capital Fund Solutions, the asset management arm of Barclays Capital, has entered the UK structured funds market with the first in a series of products aimed at advisers and their clients.
Managing director Colin Dickie said IFSL Barclays Defined Returns Autocall Fund 1 represents a departure for the business and reflects where the firm sees the structured products market heading in 2011 and beyond.
Defined Returns Autocall Fund 1 is a six-year open-ended investment company (Oeic), with a FTSE-linked knockout payoff mirroring the bank's Defined Returns Plan Annual Kick-Out. It will pay 6.5% growth multiplied by the number of years of the fund's life so far on the anniversary from the third onwards on which the underlying is at or above its strike. Soft protection is set at 60% with one-for-one downside.
The fund is already available at the Cofunds platform, a move which according to Dickie will give cash retention on the platform for the IFA to continue with their advice process after the close of the fund instead of taking the traditional route of returning monies to the investor who suffers from a discontinuous advice process and therefore a poor retention rate: "We see putting structured solutions on platforms as the way forward in the retail market, improving secondary market liquidity and giving enhanced visibility in terms of pricing," added Dickie. "IFAs will see structured solutions sitting alongside existing platform investments thus allowing a full investment planning and review service to take place on an ongoing basis."
IFSL Barclays Defined Returns Autocall Fund 1 will be available until 24 February. Minimum investment is £1,000.
This product will be available shortly in Recent Additions (UK).