An investment product offered by a bank, investment company or mutual fund usually with a fixed rate of return over a predetermined amount of time without the risk of losing the original investment. There are some types of investments, however, where this is the option of having variable returns, depending on the type of investment product chosen. For most products the return is negotiated beforehand.

Investment certificates are financial instruments whose price depends on its underlying asset. For some investment certificates, the fluctuation in value of that asset will make the outcome of the initial investment change. They are not connected any dividends, company management or share in the remaining assets following liquidation of a company as opposed to common stock.

An important role in this case is played by the creditworthiness or credit rating of the banking institution that issues these certificates. The issuer is also a specialist that is continuously present on the exchange for bids and offers to ensure sufficient liquidity. Interested parties in the exchange can buy (debt subscription) or sell these investment certificates at any time (until the maturity date). The issuer is obliged to purchase them back and at the same time has the right to use the funds invested by the investor. The underlying asset can include stock indexes, shares, commodities, currencies and more. The price of an investment certificate is derived from its underlying asset.

There are several types of investment certificates:

• Index certificate (based on a stock market index with a 1:1 return ratio)
• Bonus certificate (if the asset´s value remains within some established parameters, the investor is paid a bonus equal the positive percentage in the range)
• Discount certificate (based on an asset bought at a discount whose value should increase to a prearranged level upon maturity)
• Commodity certificate (similiar to the index certificate but based on different commodity assets)
• Turbo certificate (similar to an index or commodity certificate but the return is based on a leverage ratio greater than 1:1)
• Guaranteed certificate (the return on this certified product is 100% guaranteed at the time of the contract, usually are for 1,2 or 5 years)
• Reverse bonus certificate (similar to a bonus certificate but is usually bought when there is negative sentiment in the market so if the value of the mature asset remained within the parameters, the investor is paid a bonus equal to the negative percentage in the range).