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Africa Structured Products and Derivatives Awards 2019
Investec picks up four awards
Investec excelled at the annual Africa Structured Products & Alternative Investments Conference 2019 – hosted by Structured Retail Products (SRP), the online resource for the global structured products community – picking up four accolades.
Investec beat off a number of major local and global houses in collecting awards for the Best Distributor (South Africa and Offshore), Best Performance and Deal of the Year – the Offshore Protected Share – Asia Pacific Basket.
The presentation took place last month at a gala event in Cape Town, attended by leading South African and global banks, exchanges, law firms, technology providers and other financial markets service providers. The awards recognise the best performing structured products manufacturers, distributors and service providers in the market, as voted by the industry. Brian McMillan from Investec Structured Products says the awards are an affirmation of the work Investec has done to establish structured products as an indispensable tool in realising specific investment strategies. “Investors are increasingly seeing the benefit of structured products in providing certainty of outcomes – with attractive pay-out profiles and protection – in uncertain, volatile times. The success of our numerous structures over the years attests to this.”
Structured products provide a pre-defined risk-and-return profile with returns linked to one or more underlying assets or indices, across currencies and geographies. Investec has launched 21 structured products in the past 12 months, six of which were offshore and 15 were rand-denominated local investments.
“We see considerable scope for the development of the structured product space, as part of a balanced portfolio. This includes retirement vehicles like retirement annuities, preservation funds and living annuities. We have already done a great deal of work in tailoring investments to comply with Regulation 28 of the Pension Fund Act and we see this as a growth area in the future,” says Japie Lubbe, Consultant at Investec.
Investec Structured Products is an offering from Investec for Intermediaries, which is focused on providing a holistic value proposition for financial intermediaries, helping them save, invest and trade on behalf of their clients. The offering brings together dedicated relationships, an integrated digital platform and client-focused solutions under a single Specialist Bank.
Wealthport receives two awards
Wealthport, a wealth and investment management platform in South Africa, has won two accolades at the Africa Structured Products and Derivatives Awards 2019, within the Service Provider Awards category: Best Linked Investment Service Provider (LISP) platform, and Best Technology Platform. This is the second timeWealthport has achieved these accolades.
Eugene Maree, founder and group CEO at Wealthport, says, “We are absolutely thrilled and proud to once again be recognised by SRP Africa. We believe that this acknowledgement comes off the back of continual hard work and our commitment to re-shaping the traditional investment model.”
The Awards, which form a crucial part of the SRP Africa Conference, are considered to be the most prestigious honour within the industry, aimed at acknowledging best buy-side firms,along with classifying service providers who are active in the structured products and derivatives market. Key criteria for the Best LISP Platform award include technology innovation, post-trade service, breadth of coverage and user interface.
For the Best Technology Platform, key criteria examined comprised of pricing capacity, risk model capacity, user interface and integration.
“These awards support our focus to provide leadership and technical innovation within the investment space. Our team of experts are passionate about offering new solutions and improved technology platforms, which we know will positively impactthe investment sector for current and future needs. My gratitude must also be extended to our full team for their dedication to excellence, which I have no doubt played a massive role in this achievement.
“We are a business who strongly believes in the power of a simple proposition – without the clutter of complicated business rules and seemingly endless choices. Instilling such a belief holds us accountable to ensuring that we focus on what really matters when it comes to investment products – to provide only the highest quality solutions and support to our clients and advisors. For us, these awards reinforce this, our business model, and encourages us to keep this focus for future business growth and success in the investment sector,” says Maree.
