ABN Amro has launched its online trading platform, “marketindex," for private investors in the UK. The system, which is already available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, will offer trading in currencies, equity indexes, commodities and notes. It is designed to offer an alternative to CFD products. "Marketindex opens up opportunities for private investors to trade a variety of asset classes directly with ABN Amro, cost effectively using the same prices and spreads as institutional investors," said Zafar Alam, global head of private investor products at ABN Amro. All trades are settled real time in cash, so users don't need to use rollovers or swaps and they aren't tied to settlement dates, the bank said. “We also pay interest on balances in margin accounts and provide ABN Amro research on the product, which is totally web-enabled. This is our iPod for the retail investment market,” Mr Zafar told WealthBriefing. “The package comes with a interesting facility to draw box options on screen. We think this will be very popular with UK retail investors,” said Michelle Gibson, director of private investor products at the Dutch bank.