| My favourite pages |
| Support topics
Need help in something? Take a look at our support area for your answer. Find out more |
Session Timeout
You have been inactive for 0 mins.
Stay logged in or you will be logged off in 60 seconds.
Quick content survey
As your feedback helps us improve our content and services, we'd appreciate it if you can spare a few moments to respond to the following statements.
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.
Here you’ll find a simple explanation of some of the most commonly used investment terms. If there is any other financial jargon you want translated, please call our Customer Service Team free on 0800 597 2525 or email us at enquiries@willisowen.co.uk and they will be pleased to help.
There are a huge variety of funds on sale in the UK to choose from. The IA’s sectors provide a way of dividing around 2,500 of these funds into broad groups. As an investor you can then compare funds in one or more sectors before looking in detail at individual funds and making your investment decisions.
More information can be found within Sectors & Ratings.
An in-specie transfer (also called a stock transfer or re-registration of assets) is when the investments that you own are transferred to a different intermediary or provider without the need to convert them to cash. There will be a change of nominee account but you remain the beneficial owner of the assets. This means the asset will remain invested for the duration of the transfer and therefore will not be out of the market.
An income fund is a fund that focusses on providing investors with a consistent income stream from a portfolio of investments.
Investors holding income units/shares are entitled to receive any regular income payments. The payments are usually made twice a year, but can be quarterly or monthly. In the case of funds where only income units are available, you can choose to reinvest this income to buy further units free from the initial charge where applicable.
An income unit/share in an Investment Trust/investment company entitles the holder to all the income during the lifetime of the trust along with a set amount at redemption, although this is sometimes only a nominal amount.
An index is essentially a means of measuring the movement of a particular set of statistics over a period of time. In the financial world, an index is used to measure share price performance. An example of an index is the FTSE 100 Index.
Indictive net asset value (iNAV)
The same calculation as the NAV, but is calculated every 15 seconds, increasing transparency for investors.
Inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money.
The risk that the purchasing power of your money will fall over time.
If inflation rises but returns on your savings and investments don't keep pace, this will reduce the amount you can buy with your money.
A £1 coin will always be worth £1, but what you can buy with that coin will reduce with inflation. For example, when you save in cash, if interest rates are lower than the rate of inflation your money will fall in real value.
A third party who may advise on or arrange the purchase or sale of fund units or shares for an investor.
Corporate bonds issued by companies with high credit ratings and which are therefore considered to offer lower risk of the company defaulting.
Investment Trust/Investment Company
An Investment Trust or investment company is a listed public company that invests in other companies. Investment Trusts/investment companies have a fixed number of shares that can be bought and sold on the stock market and may be ‘wound-up’ on a predetermined date.
An International Security Identification Number (ISIN) is a unique number for any security traded on any stock exchange in the world. For UK stocks, the ISIN number is made up of the SEDOL number plus extra digits to bring it into line with the worldwide classification index. ISIN numbers (and SEDOL numbers) are also allocated to Unit Trusts which are quoted in the Financial Times.
