AG Insurance has launched Post Optima Global Transitions 90 10/2027 in Belgium. The 10-year structured fund is available via the insurer's Bpost Bank distribution channel, which sells its products through a network of more than 670 post offices, and participates 100% in the performance of the iStoxx Global Transitions Select 30 Index. The fund is subject to 30 months backend averaging and an overall minimum capital return of 90% applies.
The index, which is exclusively licensed to Goldman Sachs, counterparty of the fund, defines three major channels of global changes: social evolutions, scarcity of natural resources and infrastructure, according to Vincent Peres Ferreira (pictured), product manager, market development invest, business development life insurance at AG Insurance. "These sectors will be directly affected by global transitions and, therefore, offer interesting investment opportunities," said Peres Ferreira. "The index selects out of the three universes low volatility, high dividend and high liquidity stocks."
Both AG Insurance and BPost Bank chose the index as it is a global and a very current concept "which can be understood by everyone", according to Peres Ferreira.
The fund is connected to Post Optima Invest, an individual life-insurance (Class 23) from AG Insurance, which, similar to the fund, has a strike date of October 13, 2017, while there is 100% exposure of the net invested premium via an EMTN issued by BNP Paribas Fortis.
AG Insurance's Class 23 structured funds are distributed via three channels. Apart from the BPost Bank channel, which, to date, has introduced five products worth an estimated €16m this year, the insurer also uses the BNP Paribas Fortis channel for its Smart Invest Bon series (10 products/€243m), while the company's own broker channel is used for the distribution of the AG Target+ series (six products/€27m).
"The sales volumes for our Post Optima Invest funds are quite similar to those of the broker channel (AG Target+), but the launches are more frequent, depending on BPost Bank's commercial campaigns," said Peres Ferreira. "It is clear that the launches are more frequent for Smart Invest Bon (every month) with often higher sales volumes."
The risk profiles for the BPost Bank clients are very similar to those of BNP Paribas Fortis and AG Insurance and the investment process follows the same rules/principles (Mifid tests), according to Peres Ferreira. The same goes for the underlyings linked to the products, which, for all three channels, are predominately single equity indices. "BPost bank does not have a preference for specific underlying assets," said Peres Ferreira. "They are open to all the interesting indexes and concepts, both new ones as existing ones."
BPost Bank, which until October 2012 was known as Bank van de Post (BPO), was launched in 1995 as a 50/50 joint venture between Generale Bank (later Fortis, now BNP Paribas Fortis) and De Post.
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