ABN AMRO Private Banking has made a series of changes to its research and strategy offering, WealthBriefing can exclusively reveal.

ABN AMRO Private Banking has made a series of changes to its research and strategy offering, WealthBriefing can exclusively reveal.

The 16-strong research and strategy team - based in Amsterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong - is led by Didier Duret. It provides investment information on equities, fixed income, commodities, property and alternative assets - including hedge funds and private equity - for 120,000 high net worth clients (and retail clients in the Netherlands) across 11 global markets.  

“The changes we are making to the structure of our research and strategy offering will enable us to expand our coverage of global large-cap equities, increase our focus on asset allocation, strategic and thematic equity research, and boost our capabilities in fixed income and risk-return analysis,” said Richard Bruens, global head of products and services at ABN AMRO Private Banking.

As of March 2013, ABN AMRO Private Banking will use Morningstar for equity research on individual global large-cap stocks. The aim of this is to strengthen the range, depth, consistency and frequency of the firm's equity research by providing timely coverage on over 600 global stocks, it said.

Coverage of Benelux equities will continue to be provided by ABN AMRO Markets analysts in Amsterdam, and Independent Research will continue to provide coverage of German equities. Both will be integrated within the new service.

“These changes will allow newly-defined equity experts in research and strategy to further concentrate our focus on specialist areas where we can truly add value for our private banking clients: advice on their strategic, tactical positioning for equities and also on thematic based research,” the firm said. “These experts will also ensure that Morningstar’s research links seamlessly with our strategic and thematic recommendations.”

Meanwhile, ABN AMRO Private Banking has, as previously reported, been short-listed for a number of categories in the WealthBriefing Awards 2013, to be announced in London on 2 May. 

Fixed income expansion

As part of the changes, ABN AMRO Private Banking has also expanded its in-house fixed income research coverage of non-government bonds - particularly in low investment-grade and emerging market credit (notably Asian issuers), it said.

The firm added that this move has been made possible due to a “significant increase” in the size of the fixed income research team, including the appointment of Stephen Evans as global head of fixed income research in January.

“This increased capacity reflects clients’ demand for a larger span of fixed income products and to ensure our fixed income advice is grounded on solid analytical foundations - with due consideration for current high valuations and associated investment risks,” the firm said.

ABN AMRO serves retail, private and commercial banking customers in the Netherlands and worldwide. ABN AMRO Private Banking includes MeesPierson in the Netherlands, Bethmann Bank in Germany and Neuflize OBC in France.