Private client arm of Riada shuts down

The private client arm of Riada stockbrokers closed its doors to customers for the final time yesterday.

In a brief letter to clients, Riada managing director Mr Robert Aherne said the private client unit was closing with immediate effect and was therefore "no longer in a position to provide any further services in relation to client portfolios". Riada is the stockbroking division of ABN Amro.

A Riada spokeswoman was adamant that there were no plans to close the main stockbroking operation which employs 60 people. She said that while the seven strong private client equities arm was successful and profitable in the Republic, its closure was due to a decision by ABN Amro to shed non-core operations.

In addition to the private client staff, two analysts and an assistant have been let go and there may be further reductions in back-office staff.

The focus going forward will be on large corporates and institutions and not on private clients, the spokeswoman said, adding that the stockbroker had already built up a small panEuropean team which it hoped to strengthen.

The announcement comes one day after its Dutch parent, ABN Amro, revealed a 12 per cent fall in first-quarter profits and a raft of job cuts internationally. The results were the first since the completion of the restructuring plan spearheaded by ABN Amro's chairman, Mr Rijkman Groenink.

His plan has focused the company on three divisions covering retail, wholesale and asset management, and the shedding of non-core operations.

Mr Groenink said in a statement yesterday that the slowdown in the US economy and a global economic downturn left it "difficult to predict how the remainder of the year will transpire".

ABN Amro posted net profits of #683 million (£537 million) in the three months to March 31, compared with #774 million a year earlier. Total revenues of #4.53 billion were 3 per cent below the level of the previous year.