Societe Generale goes for autocall

7 October 2011 5:22 pm

The SPGO platform is the UK’s first structured product investment platform. It allows IFAs to invest in structured products, with the ability to buy and sell daily throughout the life of the products. The platform also offers tools to help advisers with product selection, trading, analysis and on-going monitoring.

The UK autocall plan is Societe Generale’s first retail structured product designed specifically for IFAs. It is a FTSE 100 linked kick-out plan that will provide growth of 8.3 per cent at the end of year one provided the index is at or above its initial value. If the index does not meet the criteria, the plan will continue on the same basis, paying out 8.3 per cent growth for each year it remains invested.

If no kick-out is triggered because the index has fallen, investors will receive their original capital back provided the index does not fall by 50 per cent or more by the final day of the term. A failure of this safety net means investors will lose 1 per cent of their original capital for each 1 per cent fall in the index.

As a listed product, this is more liquid than typical plans. Societe Generale says that IFAs are used to structured products in an investment plan form, so it wants to provide a mix of what IFAs are used to with the benefits of exchange-traded transparency and liquidity.

Meteor’s prima growth plan 23 offers higher potential growth of 9 per cent for each year of investment, but it is not available through the SPGO platform. Its criteria for a full capital return is also more onerous than the Societe Generale plan, as investors will lose 1 per cent of their capital for each 1 per cent where the index falls by 50 per cent or more during the term and does not recover at the end.

If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing