In July Popular partnered with AIG to offer Popular Choice Annuity, an investment vehicle that guarantees a first-year bonus rate of 5.15% and several interest-rate options thereafter.

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These accounts may offer a higher interest rate than the savings account options at a local bank.

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Greifeld has bought exchange companies in Boston and Philadelphia, as well as Stockholm's OMX Group, with exchanges in northern Europe, to increase the trading of securities and derivatives like options and interest rate swaps.

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Not all rising interest rate environments are the same, and certain investment options make sense in one scenario, but not in another.

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Eurodollar futures and options, where investors hedged or speculated on the interest rate paid on a 90-day deposit of a dollar overseas, were half of the Merc's business, with 1.5 million contracts traded per day.

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Meanwhile, it has talked a cautious game: no firm promise that any interest rate will be cut, but the odd hint that all the options are open in monetary policy, especially when it comes to protecting the real economy from the turbulence on the markets.

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There are no interest charges for the 3, 6 and 12 months options, a rate of 6.5% for the 18 months option and 8.5% for the 24 months option.

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But that clarity is good clarity, especially at a time when individual investors have low confidence in Wall Street and few options to find fixed-income returns given the low-interest-rate environment.

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