Structured investment products are fixed-term products, which often require you to lock your money in for several years. Some of the other features and advantages of structured investment products, include:
- Can provide protection to some or all of your original capital
- Can provide diversification to your investment portfolio
- Can provide potential for enhanced returns
- The higher the risk the higher the potential returns
- Fixed terms mean potentially higher returns
Potential disadvantages of structured investment products, such as:
- Your money could be locked in for several years
- With non-capital protected products your original capital may be at risk
- Performance is often linked to volatile assets like the stock market
- A minimum investment amount will apply
Depending on how much risk exposure you are seeking, you can choose from a range of different Barclays Wealth structured investment products, including capital protected to capital-at-risk products, which offer potentially better returns for putting some of your capital at risk.
Compare the structured investment products available with our online comparison service and apply online.
The safety of your original capital depends on the ability of the counterparty (the institution providing the underlying assets, rather than the product provider) to repay your investment at the end of the term. You can assess the strength of a counterparty, and therefore the relative risk to your investment, by comparing their credit rating score, from AAA to D, using a credit rating agency such as Standard & Poor's (www.standardandpoors.com) or Fitch (www.fitchratings.com).