(February 7 – 10:25 ET) – The Imperial Life Assurance Co. of Canada is launching a new three-year guaranteed capital term deposit through its Strategic Index Plus product. Previously the term deposit was only available in five-and-a-half and eight-year terms.

“Strategic Index Plus represents a new class of product designed to help investors take advantage of market highs and lows,” says its architect and manager, Jacques Lussier, vice president of financial engineering at Opvest. “Until recently, Strategic Index Plus was reserved for institutional investors and individuals with a net worth of over one million U.S. dollars. Today, it is accessible to all investors with a minimum $500 deposit. The new three-year term creates a valuable investment opportunity to a broader range of investors.”

Strategic Index Plus is available through any certified advisors of the three distribution networks of Imperial Life : Finactive, Laurentian Financial Services and Connexus.

It is diversified by asset class, geography and strategy, and is managed to minimize risk. It invests deposits in the securities of the 13 main industrialized countries and its asset class diversification includes stock market indexes, bond indexes, currencies and commodities. Some of the strategies utilized include arbitrage to exploit different currency, bond and stock fluctuations around the world and hedge fund strategies to take both short and long positions in equity markets. In addition, the managers take advantage of multiple opportunities created by large corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Additionally, the full investment is guaranteed, it is not subject to the foreign content limit applicable to RRSPs, it carries no purchase or trust fee, management fees based on performance (up to 2.5%), and it’s CompCorp-protected up to $60,000.

Strategic Index Plus earned a return of 6.7% in calendar 2000, whereas the TSE 300 returned 6.2%, and the S&P posted a return of -1%.
-IE Staff