Principal protected note

Although traditional fixed-income investments such as guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) and bonds provide investment security with little or no risk of capital loss, they provide modest returns. While stocks have the potential to deliver substantial returns, they do so at much greater risk.

Throughout the unpredictable and volatile market conditions that characterised the late 1990s and early 2000s, investors increasingly sought out new approaches to investing that offered both security and potential growth. Principal protected notes (PPNs) were introduced to the North American financial marketplace at that time.

Part of the structured investment products category, principal protected notes (also known as Guaranteed Linked Notes), can be linked to a broad range of underlying investments. These investments include indexes, mutual funds, baskets of mutual funds, baskets of equities and even alternative offerings such as hedge funds.

At the heart of a PPN is a guarantee. Typically, PPNs guarantee 100% of invested capital, as long as the note is held to maturity. That means, regardless of market conditions, investors receive back all money they invested. In other words, at maturity, payout on the Note is the original principal plus any appreciation from the underlying assets (typically a mutual fund or group of funds, an index or basket of equities, and sometimes hedge funds or even commodities).

Principal protected notes offer an array of benefits such as:

* 100% principal protection
* high growth potential
* enhanced income potential
* weekly liquidity
* the opportunity to invest in a broad range of investments
* potential for leveraged returns
* capital protection regardless of what happens in the markets

Principal protected notes offer disadvantages

* Opaque fee structure
* Investments that the average investor has no hope of understanding
* difficulty in evaluating returns Vs. more conventional investments
* lack of data showing how this type of investment has performed historically

Example

A common type of PPN is the stock plus option type. Its return equals $PPN\_T=100+A(S\_T-K)^+$ at maturity for underlying call options. Where $A$ is a multiplication factor, $S\_T$ is the stock price at maturity, and $K$ is the option's strike price.

ee also

Structured product

External links

* [http://www.usstructuredinvestments.info US Structured Investments] - A public website that acts as a portal for information on structured investments created for the US market. A free service that does not require registration.

* [http://structuredinvestments.com/index.cfm?fa=continuingEd.ppn Structured Investments] - A good explanation many PPN factors, including the typical combination of zero coupon bonds with index options.

* [http://www.ubs.com/structuredinvestmentsus/ UBS Structured Investments] - A website that provides educational materials related to principally-protected notes and other structured investments as well as details on issuances of UBS Structured Investments.

References

* [http://www.investmentexecutive.com/client/en/News/DetailNews.asp?Id=32676&cat=27&IdSection=27&PageMem=2&nbNews=&IdPub= "PPNs are hot this season", Investment Executive - February 16, 2006]