This site is maintained by the StructuredProductReview.com team at Lowes Financial Management.
Please read our site Terms & Conditions.
Lowes have been IFAs since 1971. We have been active reviewers of the structured product market and we have used the products extensively within client portfolios (as well as our own) since the early nineties.
We were one of the country’s first adviser firms to achieve the accreditation "Chartered Financial Planners" and we advise across a wide range of investments - taking an holistic view of clients' requirements - of which structured products is just one element.
To find out more about Lowes visit www.lowes.co.uk.
This website is a research tool to help IFAs identify the range of structured products in the market and which ones are right for their clients.
There is no set definition for what a structured product, a stockmarket bond or a structured investment contract is. Our preferred definition is:
"An Investment product (or plan) where the return is defined by reference to a defined underlying measurement (such as the FTSE 100 index) and delivered at a defined date (the maturity date)."
It is that ambiguity in the market that has in part driven our decision to create this website. The site does not contain a definitive list of all structured products but it is a list of many of the mainstream contracts which fall into the above definition and which are promoted through Independent Financial Advisers.
Lowes have been reviewing the structured product market for some 15 years. As one of the first to warn about what became known as ‘precipice bonds’ via our published analysis "The Truth Behind Those High Yield Stockmarket Bonds" our review service subsequently helped many advisers avoid the likes of the Keydata Secure Income Bond (read our review from 2005). Equally as important, the service identified some of the better value investments such as Keydata's FTSE Growthbuilder Plan and Dynamic Growth Plan and Nvesta's Quad Tracker, which have done very well for our clients.
When you have used the service, which is free to IFAs, we would welcome your views on the site. Please click here to let us know what you think.
Lowes contributes frequently to the media and we are often the first point of contact for the press looking for unbiased and objective comment on structured product matters.
Please read our articles: "What's right with Structured Products?" and "Structured Evolution"
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How the site is funded
The first incarnation of this site was designed to bring to investors’ attention certain plans in which we felt the level of risk was too high - Lowes were the first to warn of the dangers of what later became known as "precipice bonds" (see below) - whilst differentiating and highlighting the more favourable investment options.
Initially, the site was maintained by Lowes at our expense. However, with effect from Spring 2010 the majority of the providers have agreed to fund the site to serve as a platform for the compilation and dissemination of information regarding Structured Products. Consequently, the site remains free to use for IFAs, and can continue to provide an efficient means of comparison and selection, while striving to promote transparency and accessibility in the Structured Product market.
Lowes' history with structured products
Structured products began appearing in the UK retail investment market in the early 1990s. The number of contracts available was very small but by the end of the decade they were being released at the rate of three or four a month.
But with this increasing supply came an alarming number of contracts which we identified as being potentially misleading and providing arguably insufficient reward in return for the risk to which the capital was being exposed. As a result we published a leaflet entitled "The Truth Behind Those High Yield Stockmarket Bonds" and issued copies to clients and prospects, and to journalists from the national and trade press. The initial analysis of stockmarket bonds was subsequently published on the Lowes website and updated with most new contracts brought to the market. In effect, our first review service.
The first article warning of the dangers of what later became known as "precipice bonds" was published in the Sunday Telegraph in October 2000 and was as a direct result of the Lowes leaflet.
This article was followed by many more instigated by Lowes in both the consumer and trade press and warnings to the Financial Services Authority of an impending crisis.
Our concerns were subsequently justified in what became the "precipice bond scandal". Whilst the contracts launched since then have been on significantly more sensible terms, we continued to publish our analysis to highlight those that we felt offered good value, until the end of 2006. At that time expansion elsewhere in our company led us to review the viability of continuing to allocate the resource necessary to maintain the database and we took the decision to cease publication of our analysis after 1st January 2007.
However, with the increasing numbers of structured products now being launched and the knocks to the market following Lehmans, Keydata and NDF events, in July 2009, after an absence of over two and a half years, we decided to re-launch the review service.
The ethos behind Structured Product Review is that by creating an easy means of comparison, alongside making product selection simpler and more efficient for IFAs, we can help drive transparency in the market and in consequence, better products for investors.
If you have a view on StructuredProductReview.com please let us know by clicking here
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Our Investments
Please click here to see a list of products into which Lowes and it's staff and relatives have invested their money.