The popularity of investment products tied to equity based investing has increased with investor sentiment, but consumer demands have changed, according to Macquarie’s specialist investment executive director, Peter van der Westhuyzen.
He noted the popularity of specialist products is closely aligned to investor sentiment and as their propensity to invest into share markets fell during the global financial crisis, “so did the levels for this type of products, because they’re very much tied to equity based investing”.
“But we’ve seen, particularly in the last few months as investor sentiment started to improve, the demand for specialist products has increased with that sentiment,” he added.
However, van der Westhuyzen said investors found good investment portfolios, capital protection and exotic returns attractive in 2006-07, but the global financial crisis has changed consumers’ demands.
“Investors are still attracted to capital protection and leverage, but what we’ve noticed not is that they prefer simplicity, transparency and smaller fees,” he said.
Van der Westhuyzen also noted that structured products with long-term investment focus and short-term flexibility have also gained popularity with improving investor sentiment.
