Training Courses

Retail Investment Products Explained

Category: Investment Products

Course level: Introductory to Intermediate

In house

This one-day workshop provides a thorough understanding of retail investment products, including unit trusts, OEICs, SICAVs, investment trusts, ISAs and personal pensions.

Case studies: The firm’s own product range and literature will be used in this workshop

Objectives

By the end of the course, delegates will have a better understanding of:

  • investment
  • open-ended fund: charges, distribution, pricing
  • closed-ended funds: charges, distribution, pricing
  • ISAs
  • impact of regulation
  • fund performance

Length

1 day

Course Content

Open-ended funds

Principles of open-ended funds
Authorised vs unauthorised funds
FSA authorised vs recognised funds
    Types of open-ended funds
Unit trusts, ICVCs, OEICs, SICAVs
Role of the trustee/depositary
Function of the Trust Deed/Prospectus
Key information required in documentation

Unit/share classes

Income vs accumulation
Net vs gross
Institutional vs retail
    Different charging structures
Currency classes

The global industry

US, Australian mutual and European funds
Recent issues in the industry

Marketing open-ended funds

How do investors buy into these funds?
    Role of the IFA, discount brokers, fund supermarkets, tied sales agents
    Selling retail funds to institutional client (e.g., stakeholder pensions)
Charges
    Initial fee
    Annual management charge
    Other fees and Total Expense Ratio (TER)
Advertising and marketing regulations
 

Using open-ended funds

Umbrella schemes
Fund of funds
Corporate and personal products
    Segregated pensions, balanced schemes, stakeholder pensions,
    SIPPs, SSASs
    Switching between funds

Pricing and daily valuations

Calculating the NAV
Calculating the unit price
Dual vs single pricing
Dilution levy vs swinging mid price
Switching fees

Regulations for open-ended funds

Recent developments
    UCITS II and III
    New COLL sourcebook
    Mixed funds, guaranteed funds, Limited Issue Funds
Investment and borrowing powers under COLL
    Expanded role for derivatives
    Risk management process
    New concentration rules (fund of funds)

Closed-ended funds (investment trusts)

What is a closed-ended fund?
How do ITCs differ from Collective Investment Schemes?
Share and debt capital
    Share classes, split cap trusts, using debt to gear up
How do investors buy into these funds?

Pricing closed-ended funds

Calculating NAV
Market price
    Discount vs premium to NAV

Regulations for closed-ended funds

Listing rules
Responsibilities of the directors
Statutory accounting
Companies Acts 1985/89
FSA split cap investigations and fall-out

ISAs

Maxi vs mini ISAs
Investment limits
Case study: Building an investment portfolio for a lottery winner – delegates will construct a portfolio using the firm’s retail products to meet their long-term investment objectives

Performance
Benchmarking (fund performance vs an index or sector average)
Using S&P or Lipper data

This course would be suitable for:

  • Client services and call centres
  • Finance and accounting
  • HR and training
  • Investment administration and operations
  • IT and software developers
  • Legal & Compliance
  • New entrants
  • Sales and marketing

This course would be suitable for these exams:

  • IMC
  • SII IAQ - Collective Investment Schemes
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