Maybank

Maybank has launched its 1Malaysia Momentum (M3) Structured Deposit, a capital protected investment plan for investors seeking potential gain regardless of the market conditions, with a target fund size of RM100 million.

The M3 is a five-year investment product issued by Maybank via Floating Rate Negotiable Instruments of Deposit (FRNID) that comes with 100% capital protection if the FRNID is held to maturity or autocalled. The product is offered to investors at a minimum investment amount of RM65,000, with additional investment in multiples of RM5,000.

The M3 structured deposit investment is based on a strategy represented by the 1Malaysia Momentum (M3) Index, which provide investors with the opportunity to gain exposure into underlying assets that are closely related to the Malaysian economy, namely the domestic stock market, as well as five commonly-traded commodities comprising of crude oil, gold, natural gas, cocoa and palm oil.

"M3 Index adopts a ‘closer to home investment strategy', providing exposure to underlying assets closely tied to the Malaysian economy. The investment strategy of this structured deposit aims to provide investors with consistent returns, irrespective of market conditions, where the strategy is expected to benefit from both rising and falling markets," said Lim Hong Tat, Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Consumer Banking Maybank.

"The underlying assets of M3 Index which have been carefully selected are also assets that investors are familiar with. Malaysian Equities is one of the underlying assets and commodities such as Natural Gas, Palm Oil, Crude Oil and Cocoa represent a large part of Malaysia's exports, while gold has traditionally been a safe haven in times of volatility," added Lim.

M3's unique feature offers investors with three chances to receive potential returns as long as the M3 Index performs above the initial index level or when it terminates early due to the autocall feature. The autocall feature allows for potential early termination of the investment, thus enabling investors to enjoy gains earlier than the maturity tenure. The autocall trigger levels start from 107% of the M3 Index Initial Fixing Level in the first year to 135% in the fifth year.

If the M3 Index performs below the initial index level, the investor will still stand to receive 100% of their initial principal investment if held till maturity. The principal amount is not guaranteed in the event of early redemption and the redemption amount will depend on the indicative bid price of the investment at the time of redemption in accordance with the prevailing market conditions.

The closing date of M3 is December 31, 2009 or earlier if fully subscribed.

The 1Malaysia Momentum Structured Deposit is the second structured deposit with autocall feature launched by Maybank this year. In April, Maybank Autocall Structured Deposit was launched to tap opportunities in China.