Morgan Stanley feeds hunger for Gilt-backed products

Morgan Stanley has launched a new UK government bond backed plan and re-issued three other plans, one of which is the third in a series of Gilt-backed issues, designed to mitigate counterparty risk.

The FTSE Gilt Backed Best Entry Growth Plan has a UK government bond plus cash collateralisation and offers 500% market participation rate in the FTSE-100 index - subject to a maximum return of 45%. The five-year plan is not capital protected although has a 50% barrier. If the buffer is breached, capital is reduced in line with the index.

The index performance is measured as the difference between the initial index level and the level of the index on the final valuation date. The initial level