TD Waterhouse has entered the market for structured products with the introduction of its protected investment plan (Pip).
This guaranteed equity bond is linked to the FTSE 100 index over a term of five-years and one month through a Guernsey-based investment company that is listed on the Irish stock exchange.
Investors in the Pip will get their original capital back whatever happens to the FTSE 100 index, plus potential growth of up to 75 per cent of the growth in the index. To calculate the returns, the performance of the FTSE 100 index is monitored every year, with increases and falls capped at 15 per cent each year. At the end of the term, these figures are added together to produce the final return, which will be capped at 75 per cent.
This product is similar to Legal & General's recently established protected index plan, which is linked to the FTSE 100 index for five and a half years. Despite its longer term, the Legal and General product offers lower potential growth of up to 60 per cent of any increase in the FTSE 100 index, plus the guaranteed return of capital.
However, the calculation of the return differs from the TD Waterhouse product in that the average closing level of the index is compared with an average taken over the last six months of the term. The structure of the TD Waterhouse product may make it difficult to achieve the maximum growth of 75 per cent, whereas Legal & General's use of averaging at the start and the end of the term may make the maximum level of growth more achievable.
