ABN Amro has established an autonomous investment consultancy exclusively for private clients in Brazil, according to the Brazilian business journal Gazeta Mercantil. "We are the first bank in Brazil to create a separate company for private banking, along the lines of a family office, but we want to have the certainty that our clients will be well served," ABN Amro private banking executive Alcindo Costa Canto Neto told the newspaper. The new unit will operate under the name ABN Amro Advisory Service, which has existed since 2001 within ABN Amro Asset Management but which moves now to the status of an investment consultancy exclusively for private clients. "We are formalising the change at the Market Regulatory Agency," said Mr Canto. The new unit is to be headed by Mailson Hykavei, who will be joined by a team of six professionals. According to Mr Canto, the private banking activity at ABN Amro ranks ninth among Brazilian banks with approximately BRL7 billion ($3.8 billion) under administration.