Barclays adds Eastern Europe to Emerging Markets Optimiser

Barclays Wealth has added an Eastern Europe option to its pioneering Emerging Markets Optimiser investment as demand continues to mount for protected exposure to areas of higher growth potential.

Launching on 16 June, the Optimiser will offer two options - Global and Eastern European - to give investors the choice between broad emerging markets exposure and more focussed exposure based on Eastern European stock markets.

The Eastern European option offers a return based on an equal weighting to two indices: the RDX, which comprises Russian shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange; and the CECE Traded Index, which is representative of the shares in the Polish, Hungarian and Czech stock markets.

As with the Global option - which is linked to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund, which gives exposure to BRIC economies in addition to developing markets such as South Korea and South Africa - the Eastern European option employs an innovative risk-adjusting strategy to determine a daily participation in the performance of the underlying markets. When perceived market risk is high, typically during periods of high volatility, the participation will fall, and when risk is deemed lower, participation levels will increase.

At the end of the five-year term clients will receive the return arising from their chosen investment option in addition to their initial capital. The quality of the assets supporting the investment are rated AA by S&P.

Colin Dickie, director, Barclays Wealth, says: "The response to our Optimiser investment has been extremely positive with sales exceeding £40m over two issues. This demonstrates that advisers and investors have an appetite for gaining investment exposure to exciting but potentially risky sectors whilst having the safety net of capital protection.

"The new Eastern European option is a logical addition and takes our proposition a step further by offering investors the chance to gain enhanced exposure to a more targeted investment base in countries that are widely predicted to perform strongly in the years ahead. Both options offer a compelling investment case and we expect the Eastern European option to be as popular as its ‘Global' sister."