ABN AMRO launches family of Exchange-Traded Real Estate Index Trackers in the Middle East

Investors in the Gulf Co-operation Council will be able to trade these products through any broker with access to the Swiss stock exchange or via ABN AMRO branches. ABN AMRO provides intra-day liquidity subject to a bid-offer spread.

The products are designed to provide exposure to both property development companies and investments in direct properties listed on international real estate. The range of indexes comprises both developed markets like United Kingdom and Germany, and emerging markets like Eastern Europe and China.

Ruggiero Lomonaco, Head of Middle East Private Investor Products at ABN AMRO commented: "Property has become an important asset class in the portfolio of international investors and it is important that our Middle Eastern clients have the widest range of choices when investing in this sector. Our family of real estate products offers daily liquidity and very low minimum investments to make this asset class fully accessible".

"Real estate indexes provide a transparent benchmark to measure the performance of the property sector in a country. Furthermore, it enables banks like ABN AMRO to issue cost effective capital protected, yield enhancing and leveraged products", Lomonaco added.

On the back of the launch of the family of Real Estate Index Tracker ABN AMRO has launched a 4 years capital protected note offering 90% capital protection at maturity and 180% exposure to the average performance of the ABN ARMO Global Property Index. The note has a minimum denomination of US$100, and is available daily on the secondary market.