03/07/2024

Friday will mark the 20th anniversary since the first autocallable (kick-out) structured product maturity – the Premier Asset Management FTSE 100 Growth Plan. Commencing in July 2003 the first autocall was designed to follow the below structure:

After one year the FTSE was almost 400 points higher than its initial recorded level, triggering early maturity, return of investors’ original capital and a gain of 8%.

Premier Asset Management’s FTSE 100 Growth Plan is understood to be the first autocall issued globally and sparked an important trend for the UK retail investment market where it wasn’t long before the autocall became the sectors’ most favoured structure, with over 4500 autocalls issued since 2003 - accounting for over 50% of all issuance. 

Autocalls come in various guises in terms of underlyings, call trigger levels and frequency, capital protection barriers, maximum terms, etc. 

As for performance, autocalls have multiple potential maturity dates meaning that very few run for their maximum possible duration and as such, very few mature without gains. From over 3000 autocall maturities (most of which were linked solely to the FTSE 100 or FTSE CSDI indices), the average annualised return is 7.57% over an average duration of 2.43 years. Capital at risk autocalls realised average annualised returns of 7.79% over average term of 2.37 years.

Whichever way you look at them, autocalls can offer a multitude of solutions to meet investors objectives in their wealth management and have been incredibly successful at delivering successful outcomes.

StructuredProductReview.com have a free guide on autocalls and their two-decade evolution in the UK market, click here to read the guide.

 

Structured investments put capital at risk.

Past performance is not indicative of future results.