Wealth briefs

SG expands to fill demand for covered warrants

French investment bank Société Générale has extended its coverage of European indices with new put and call warrants on the German DAX, the French CAC 40 and the UK FTSE 100 indices. The firm has issued the new covered warrants mainly on financial sector companies, such as UK bank Abbey National. David Lake, SG’s warrants director, said SG was responding to client demand. SG claims to have the largest market share – 15 per cent – of the warrants market worldwide.

Royal Bank steps bravely into online wealth services The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has become the latest bank to venture into online services for private clients. Undaunted by high profile failures including Credit Suisse’s web-based wealth management business, RBC has launched an electronic channel providing wealth management services and advice for individuals and families with more than E1m. Shirley Lo, senior manager, eMarketing at RBC Global Private Banking, said the launch followed research suggesting a market gap: “There are many places high net worth individuals can go that will tell them about a particular account or service, but rarely will they show how all these services knit together into an overall wealth management solution.”

Emerging Europe ripe for investing, says CSAM Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) believes that emerging European countries offer some of the best investment opportunities worldwide. “There are numerous opportunities in the region as earnings continue to rise and valuations represent excellent value relative to other markets”, said Neil Gregson, global equity portfolio manager, CSAM. Russia, including its oil stocks, was cited as particularly attractive.