A FUND set up just 12 months ago has received a top accolade after attracting more than £145 million of investment in its first year.
Mattioli Woods’ Structured Products Fund was named ‘Retail Investment Product of the Year’ at an industry awards ceremony in London last night.
It was singled out by judges as the standout entry in a category celebrating “innovative and creative structuring to meet the investment and risk requirements of retail customers”.
The Risk Awards 2018 were held at The Brewery in Chiswell Street and attended by guests from across the financial sector.
It was hosted by Risk.net, leading providers of in-depth news and analysis on risk management, derivatives and regulation.
Mark Fuller, head of structured products at Mattioli Woods plc, said he was delighted the fund had gained industry recognition so soon after its launch in November 2016.
He said: “We believe Mattioli Woods is the first to devise a retail facing multi-line structured products fund in a Ucits format. While a client can buy and hold a structured products plan, and wait and hope for the best, we are positioning ourselves as trusted adviser in the structured products field.
“We can anticipate certain events. For example, if a structured product is due to pay a coupon, and we think there’s a danger that the coupon will not get paid, we can cash it in early. We can look at six or seven potential structured product payoffs at once and decide which is best, rather than giving the client the one option.”
Mr Fuller said Mattioli Woods was well-positioned to offer a multi-line fund before others as its model of managing structured products was very similar.
“Some financial advisors advise putting all your money in one structured product. Our approach has never been that. Our approach has been to invest little and often in structured products, and that’s led to clients holding a portfolio of structured products which is administratively burdensome,” he says.
Ben Wattam, investment director at Mattioli Woods, said: “The way [other] structured products are priced involves zero coupon bonds, linked to the counterparty risk of a bank, plus structured product performance. So you aren’t necessarily getting rewarded for the performance as you are with a pure structured products fund.
“It’s a buy-and-hold asset like most structured product plans but if the client wanted their money back, we would just unwind some of the underlying assets.”
Chief investment officer Simon Gibson said: “The client is always at the heart of what we do, and the innovative (and still unique) MW Structured Products Fund provides a transparent way of investing in structured products at a low cost.
“Clients also benefit from the daily liquidity of the fund and the straightforward, transparent way they can invest”.
He added: “This is a tremendous accolade for everyone involved: Mark Fuller and Ben Wattam as managers, Simon Moore and all involved in ensuring the fund runs smoothly, and through to our partners, Commerzbank”.
