CAUTIOUS investors are being offered two more savings products: NZI Life, a small life company that is now part of General Accident Group has brought out its first tracker bond, while Anglo Irish BankCorp has launched a new bonus demand account which pays a far higher return than the main retail banks or building societies.
The NZI tracker, the Guaranteed Growth Bond 2002, requires a minimum investment of £2,500 over six years and guarantees a gross return equal to the minimum growth of the FTSE-100 over the period. It also guarantees a minimum gross return of 26 per cent at the end of the period, regardless of how the FTSE performed. Tax of 27 per cent is deducted at source. The bond closes on September 30th.
Anglo Irish, which is well known for its wide range of deposit products, is offering up to 4 per cent per annum for this demand account in the form of an initial deposit rate of 3.5 per cent (which it will guarantee for three months) onto which a quarter of a per cent bonus will be applied after the first three months and a further quarter of a per cent after six months. Compared to other demand accounts this one looks very attractive: most demand deposits offer interest returns of between a quarter and 1 per cent, though these rates (and the Anglo Irish one) may go up slightly as a result of the latest interest rate hike.
