Barclays optimises Eastern Europe exposure

Barclays Wealth has added a new option offering Eastern European exposure to its Emerging Markets Optimiser product. The original product, launched at the end of January, was linked to the performance of the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index exchange traded fund (ETF), which includes exposure to Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Korea and Taiwan. The product’s participation in the fund’s performance shifts inversely to its level of volatility, with a 100% capital guarantee at maturity.

The Eastern European option will expose investors to the RDX index, made up of Russian shares on the London Stock Exchange, and in equal measure to the CECE Traded Index which comprises Hungarian, Polish and Czech stocks. As with the ‘global’ fund-linked option, the level of exposure to the indexes shifts according to the perception of market risk, decreasing when markets are riskier and more volatile, and increasing when they are perceived to be more stable. Sales of the optimiser have