International Titans Basket Ltd provides diversified international equity exposure with built-in capital protection, helping investors navigate periods of heightened market volatility. This dollar-denominated listed share, promoted by Investec, offers a measured way to stay “in the game” while staying covered.

Investors entered 2026 hoping for greater stability, but volatility has remained a defining feature of markets. Investors have had to contend with sharp swings in sentiment driven by geopolitics, inflation concerns and shifting growth expectations. However – zooming out from daily shifts – the trendlines have been extraordinarily resilient.

In May, Reuters (citing LSEG data) reported that “stunning profit strength” was pushing US markets, writing: “…S&P 500 companies are on track for their highest quarterly earnings growth in more than four years.” By June, the S&P 500 had added 9% year to date, reports finance-specialist publication The Motley Fool. “For context,” they continue, “the S&P 500 had added less than 2% at this point in 2025”.

It hasn’t been a smooth upward journey, though. The same index slipped into almost correction territory in Q1, and by late June, Reuters writes: “Concerns around debt-backed spending by [AI] hyperscalers and ​mounting fears of a more hawkish Federal Reserve have fuelled the market downturn this week [24 June] that has erased more than $1 trillion in market value from the Nasdaq 100.”

Taking money off the table? A more measured perspective

CNN’s Fear-Greed index – used to gauge the mood of the market stock, what’s driving market movements and whether stocks are fairly priced – places fear firmly in the driver’s seat. We see the same nerves in retail investors. According to the Q2 2026 Quarterly Market Perceptions Study from Allianz, “just one in four (25%) Americans think it is a good time to invest in the market right now, down from 34% last quarter”. Some 62% report worrying that “a major recession is right around the corner”.

As the adage goes, ‘it’s not about timing the market, but about time in the market’. Periods of market volatility can tempt investors to reduce their exposure. However, reacting to panic can come at the expense of long-term investment outcomes. Hartford Funds produces annual research on the impact of mistiming and market exits. Their 2026 report – using Morningstar data of the S&P 500 Index 1996-2025 – finds that “76% of the stock market’s best days have occurred during a bear market or during the first two months of a bull market”.

Bloomberg data provides a similar insight into the effect of time invested, comparing cash (via money market account) to equity exposure (with the MSCI All Country World Index Net Total Return as proxy for equities). The graph below shows the value of $100 invested each year in global equities (total of $2,100 invested since April 2006). Even with the worst timing – buying at the highest point each year – the cumulative investment value of equities is higher than the return one would see having put $100 into a money market fund at the start of each year.

Building in resilience

A global investor insights survey from Schroders – conducted in Q2 – found 85% of respondents (wealth managers, intermediaries, and institutional investors) were expecting “greater market volatility in the next year”. These professionals were “building more resilience into their portfolios with a greater emphasis on diversification (84%) and downside protection (83%)”.

“Traditionally a 60/40 mix of equities and bonds was seen as an ‘all weather’ approach to building a balanced portfolio. Bonds have tended to perform in opposition to equities,” says James Cook, Investec Structured Product Specialist.  “But that’s less clear cut today. If we look at the data from 2022 onwards, global equities and global bonds seem to move in the same general direction. This begs the question whether a ‘traditional balanced portfolio’ provides sufficient diversification.”

Balancing exposure and safety nets

Structured products with capital protection and defined risk-return profiles offer a compelling diversification tool for investors and their clients, combining downside protection with greater certainty over investment outcomes.

International Titans Basket Ltd (ITBL) is a listed, Guernsey-incorporated company for which Investec Bank Limited acts as investment adviser – and is an example of one such structured product. Fully externalising the investment in USD, the company purchases financial instruments that create a structured product payoff profile for investors.

An investment in ITBL provides exposure to the growth of a broad-based basket of equity indices[1], and will return the growth of the index basket multiplied by a participation rate of 125%[2]. The index basket growth is capped at 40% – for a maximum return of 50% in USD (i.e., 40% x 125%). The term of the investment is five years and one month, with the potential to exit the investment early under normal market conditions.

With 100% capital protection[3] at maturity in USD, this offering reduces downside risk from future equity market shocks while providing a predefined return profile with capped upside participation.

Layered protections

ITBL achieves capital protection by investing in a credit-linked note issued by Investec Bank Ltd, with additional credit linkage to the subordinated Tier 2 debt of large international investment-grade banks. At maturity, the proceeds from this debt instrument are used to repay 100% of the company’s capital, irrespective of equity market performance. Capital is at risk only in the event of a default or credit event affecting the issuer or reference entities.

While risk cannot be eliminated, this structure replaces a portion of equity market risk with investment-grade credit risk, reducing downside equity exposure.

For more information, visit our website. Applications close on 16 October 2026 with a minimum investment amount of USD 14,000.

For full regulatory disclosures, please click here

Watch Japie Lubbe present key slides from the product presentation on YouTube:

Or listen to the podcast here:

• [1] S&P 500 (35% weighting), Euro Stoxx 50 (25% weighting), Nikkei 225 (20% weighting), FTSE 100 (20% weighting), and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (10% weighting)

[2] The participation is dependent on market conditions on trade date (the current participation is 125%).

[3] Structured products provide capital protection through the assumption of credit risk. They are intended for sophisticated investors who understand this risk and are willing to take it. There is credit risk on the debt issuer, each reference entity (the credit risk relates to the subordinated debt issued by such reference entities), and the equity investment provider(s). A default by any such party(ies) may cause the value of such investment of the company to be reduced or to become zero, which may adversely affect the share price or cause the share to become worthless.