Barclays Wealth launches new growth and income investments

Barclays Wealth is launching a new range of investments as part of its ongoing drive to continually offer cautious investors a safer alternative to unprotected equities.

Open between September 1 and October 31, the suite has been designed for investors seeking growth, income or, in the case of the Super Tracker, a structure in which they can potentially recover previous capital losses.

Leading the range is the Protected FTSE Plan, which offers investors 1.5 times the rise in the FTSE 100 Index up to maximum return of either 27 per cent (three-year option) or 60 per cent (five-year option). Investors can alternatively select the Plan's popular early maturity feature, which will deliver a 30 per cent return after two and a half years if the index at that point is 30 per cent or more above its initial starting level. If the Index has grown by less than that amount after two and a half years, the plan will continue on the same terms as the standard five-year option.

Other investments include the Minimum Return Plan, a six-year Plan which offers a fixed return of 18 per cent at maturity plus a potential additional payment of 26 per cent if the FTSE 100 never trades below 60 per cent of the initial index level. As with the Protected FTSE Plan, the investment offers full capital protection if hold to its full term, irrespective of index performance.

For investors willing to accept an element of risk the suite offers one growth investment and one income plan. The Super Tracker - a popular recovery vehicle now with the choice of two investment terms - offers three times the rise of FTSE 100 up to 40 per cent (three-year option) or five times the index rise up to 75 per cent. Investors' full capital will be returned unless the FTSE 100 falls by more than 50 per cent and fails to recover by maturity, in which case capital is lost 1:1 with the index.

Rounding out the range is the Regular Income Bond, an income-only investment linked to the Dow Jones Stoxx50 Index, which gives exposure to 50 ‘supersector' stocks across Europe (including the UK). The five-year bond offers an annual gross income of 7.25 per cent or a quarterly income of 1.78 per cent. Investors' full capital will be returned unless the index falls by 40 per cent and is not equal to or higher than the initial index level at maturity, in which case capital is lost 1:1 with the index.

Colin Dickie, director, Barclays Wealth, says: "We continue to see merit in promoting our Super Tracker as an appropriate recovery vehicle. We think advisers should be particularly mindful about investors close to retirement or in drawdown mode where pension pots might be much reduced. This is where the strength of the Super Tracker can prevail over alternative recovery strategies. Additionally this time round we have added averaging over the final month of the investment life; this we believe is a highly desirable customer benefit and compliments our use of a high multiplier in calculating the final return."

Barclays Bank PLC issued notes supports these products. Barclays Bank PLC's capacity to meet its financial commitments is deemed very strong, as supported by a number of independent assessments from leading credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's, where the rating is ‘AA (this has remained unchanged since 1994).