Lose money in Barclays Autocallable Contingent Coupon Notes?

Shareholders in Barclays Autocallable Contingent Coupon Notes linked to Least Performing Equity Securities of Delta, United, American may have claims. 

The White Law Group is investigating potential securities fraud claims involving Barclays Autocallable Contingent Coupon Notes linked to Least Performing Equity Securities of Delta, United, American and the liability broker dealers may have for unsuitably recommending it to investors.

AutoCallable Contingent Coupon Notes due August 16, 2022 Linked to the Least Performing of Three Equity Securities Global Medium-Term Notes, Series A, sponsored by Barclays, is a structured note investment product. According to its prospectus, Barclays Autocallable Contingent Coupon Equity Linked Securities are highly risky, complex investments. It is possible you could lose some or all of your investment. 

These structured notes are reportedly linked to the common stock of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (“DAL”), the common stock of United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (“UAL”) and the common stock of American Airlines Group Inc. (“AAL”). According to the prospectus: 

“If the Notes are not redeemed prior to scheduled maturity, and if the Final Value of the Least Performing Reference Asset is less than its Barrier Value, your Notes will be fully exposed to the decline of the Least Performing Reference Asset from its Initial Value….the market value of the shares that you receive may be less than the amount of cash that you would have received had we not elected to exercise such option. You may lose up to 100.00% of the principal amount of your Notes at maturity.” 

Are Structured notes a Suitable Investment for you? 

Structured notes are securities issued by financial institutions (Barclays, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, RBC, etc.) whose returns are based on, among other things, equity indexes, a single equity security, a basket of securities.  The return on an investment in a structured note is “linked” to the performance of a specific referenced asset or index.  Structured notes have a fixed maturity and include two components – a bond component and an embedded derivative.  Financial institutions typically design and issue structured notes, and broker-dealers, often for a large commission, sell them to individual investors. 

To learn more about the risks of investing in Structured note products please see: Structured Note Products Lawsuits – Securities Fraud Attorneys or Are Structured Notes Worth the Risk? 

The White Law Group is investigating the liability that brokerage firms may have for recommending complex, often extremely high-risk, structured notes to investors.   

With the market in turmoil, many investors purchased these investments believing they provided downside protection or were similar to bonds because of the dividend component, instead finding that these products can suffer enormous losses. 

Brokers often pitch structured products as providing “downside protection” against losses to a related index while allowing modest upside gain potential. However, investors in Structured Note products are finding out that the protection offered is limited and insufficient to ward off enormous losses. 

These products also typically pay a high fee to the financial advisors that sell them. Sometimes these structured products can have misleading names like market linked certificates of deposit (CDs). 

Brokerage firms have two main duties in recommending structured notes linked to equity investments or indexes.  First, brokerage firms are required to perform adequate due diligence on any product they recommend. Second, brokerage firms are required to ensure that all recommendations made are suitable for their client in light of the client’s age, investment experience, net worth, income, and investment objectives. 

If a brokerage firm fails to do either of these things, the firm can be held responsible in a FINRA arbitration claim. 

Unfortunately for investors there are literally hundreds of structured products currently being offered by financial institutions, each with their own underlying risk based on whatever they may be linked to. 

Recovery of Investment Losses through FINRA Arbitration 

If you have suffered losses investing in Barclays Autocallable Contingent Coupon Notes linked to Least Performing Equity Securities of Delta, United, America you may be able to recover your losses through FINRA arbitration.  

FINRA operates the largest securities dispute resolution forum in the United States, and has extensive experience in providing a fair, efficient and effective venue to handle a securities-related dispute. Arbitration and mediation are two non-judicial ways to resolve problems and disputes.  

For a free consultation with a national securities attorney, please call the White Law Group at 888-637-5510. For more information on The White Law Group, visit https://whitesecuritieslaw.com. 

See also: Recovery of Barclays Structured Note Investment Losses 

The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Seattle, Washington.