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Cash interest explained |
You will receive interest on balances in your platform cash account at the prevailing rate.
Embark Investment Services Limited acts as the custodian for investments on the Willis Owen platform and is one of our strategic partners that provides our Willis Owen ISA, GIA, Junior ISA and SIPP.
Embark places cash with a number of banking partners for safekeeping and to provide the potential for you to earn interest on money in your platform cash account. By managing cash in this way, it aims to provide better protection and a higher overall level of interest than if all funds were placed with a single bank.
The rates of interest paid by banks will vary. Embark retains a portion of the interest earned to cover its costs in managing platform cash.
Current Interest Rate
The table below shows the current customer interest rate payable on cash balances along with the amount of interest retained by Embark. The customer interest rate shown is that after accounting for interest retained by Embark:
| Date From | Customer Interest Rate | Interest retained by Embark |
|---|---|---|
| 25th March 2024 | 2.46% | 1.75% - 2.00% |
Embark can change the rate of interest at any time and it reviews the position at least quarterly. Interest is calculated and accrued daily and is credited to your account on the first of each month. If you transfer out, accrued interest is applied at the point of transfer. We will inform you if and when the interest rate changes as soon as is practicable.
Interest retained
The table below shows the yearly equivalent rates of interest Embark expects to pay based on a range of possible yearly interest rates it may earn.
| Interest Embark expects to earn | Customer Interest Rate | Interest retained by Embark |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1% | 0 – 0.46% | 0 – 0.54% |
| 1-2% | 0.46% – 0.94% | 0.54% – 1.06% |
| 2-3% | 0.94% – 1.46% | 1.06% – 1.54% |
| 3-4% | 1.46% – 2.02% | 1.54% – 1.98% |
| 4-5% | 2.02% – 2.61% | 1.98% – 2.39% |
| 5%+ | 2.61%+ | 2.39%+ |
Historic Interest Rates
To see details of historic customer interest rates, along with the amount of interest retained by Embark, click here.
Passive or index tracking Funds aim to replicate the return of a market index, less fees, by investing in its underlying securities. The two distinct types of passives are:
Passive Funds won’t do much more than track the chosen index. Over the long term the average performance of Active Funds has tended to be better in most markets.
If an index is dominated by a particular sector and it does badly, your investment suffers. This happened during the banking crisis in 2008, when the FTSE 100 was dominated by banks.
Index Funds are useful for a simple replication of major indices whereas ETFs offer many more specialised options. Index Funds are priced once a day while ETFs are traded on the stock market, so there is immediate pricing during trading hours.
Passives may be worth considering if you want to get some general exposure to a market quickly and have not got time to research all the Active Funds available. Some investors opt for a combination of Funds – a Passive core complemented with selected Active Funds to try and spice up performance.
Willis Owen offers a wide range of Index Funds. We also provide popular ETFs which can be investigated through our explore research facility. ETFs are traded like Shares and are charged at our usual online rates, which start from just £7.50 per deal.
When selecting a Passive Fund make sure you understand the Fund’s mandate and that it matches your own objectives.
Our shortlist of Featured Funds, including Passive Funds can be found here
