subject: Barclays To Reintroduce Ako Plans [print this page] Barclays Wealth is to reintroduce its Defined Returns Plan Annual Kick-Out (AKO), which gives investors the opportunity to make a return within just two years.
The scheme has proved a popular method of investment in the past - as it offers a potentially rapid return through its early disposal feature - and the bank has decided to bring it back. It is now available in two different options, both of which are designed to offer new and existing customers a relatively risk-free investment environment to operate in after the recession.
Firstly, the AKO 100 offers investors a return of seven per cent for every year their investment is in force, through realising its value on any anniversary (from the second onwards) when the FTSE 100 share index is at or above its starting level. For example, if London's leading stock market is at or above its starting level on the second anniversary of the investment being made, investors will receive 14 per cent. This trend would then continue up to a rate of 42 per cent on its sixth and final anniversary.
The bank's second offering - the AKO 90 - delivers its stated return on any anniversary where the FTSE is at or above 90 per cent of its starting level, thereby giving investors the chance to earn a starting level of 14 per cent on the investment's second anniversary which then rises, as with the AKO 100, at a rate of seven per cent annually until its sixth anniversary.
Should the FTSE close below 50 per cent of its starting level at any time during the term and is also below the starting level at maturity in both the AKO 90 and 100, investors are eligible to receive their full capital back.
Lisa Chaudhuri, vice president, Barclays Wealth, said: "As we enter a period of enhanced uncertainty, investors are increasingly looking for transparent products that offer pre-defined returns not dependent on market performance.
"The plan can also be held in tax efficient wrappers, such as stocks and shares ISAs, helping investors to maximise returns in a low savings rate environment."
