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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.
One of the main areas you should consider when investing is the risk involved. Here, we look at the importance of risk and how we can manage it.
Risk and reward often compliment each other - taking on higher risk will potentially generate a higher reward. This is of course not guaranteed but gives you an idea of the relationship between risk and reward. When you're choosing Funds you need to consider both your risk capacity and risk attitude.
Once you have established your level of risk tolerance, it is a good idea to manage it by diversifying your investment. Generally speaking, Cash products bear the lowest risk followed by government and corporate bonds whereas equities are considered to carry the highest level of risk as they are more volatile over the economic cycle. Investing your money across different asset classes e.g. equities, bonds, Cash and in different geographical locations can help spread risk and smooth out returns.
It is a good idea to review your portfolio regularly to ensure your investment still matches your risk profile and goals.
You may find it useful to filter the Funds by FE Risk Score (Under the Risk & Ratings tab) on explore as it is designed to help you assess the relative risks of investing in each of the Funds.
FE is a leading provider of both investment data and performance analysis. They calculate the risk scores by taking at least 18 months of weekly total returns for each Fund , giving more weighting to recent market events and less to historic ones and then measuring the Fund 's volatility, relative to the FTSE 100.
Scores are recalculated weekly on a rolling three year total return basis. Funds which are less volatile in relation to the FTSE 100 have a score below 100 whereas those which are deemed to be more volatile have a score over 100.
Next: Tax planning
