Israeli Leumi offers exposure to US health care

Israel's Bank Leumi is marketing a shekel-denominated structured deposit linked to the performance of Health Care Sector Index, an exchange-traded fund tracking the performance of the US health care sector.

The 2.5-year Shekel Structured Deposit pays 90% of the upside of the index with capital protection. The final value of the index is the arithmetic average of ten quarterly closes.

Leumi said the health sector managed to meander through the last crisis fairly well, while over the past decade it has recorded a surplus annual return of approximately 2.5%. It believes an investment in the sector would protect investors from market fluctuations.

The underlying index includes 52 of the largest US companies in the sector according to the following allocation: pharmaceuticals (45%), healthcare products (30%), biotechnology (13%), healthcare services (10%), software and electronics (2%).

Shekel Structured Deposit will be open until 23 December. Minimum investment is NIS15,000 ($4,012).