With an increased appetite for risk, equity was the favoured asset class by private banks in 2006 in spite of the market correction in May. For the coming year, Maxime Jouret of BNP Paribas’ Retail Platform believes that private banking clients will look to cross-asset products in their quest for outperformance

UK equities have been supported by merger and acquisition activity, which shows no sign of letting up. Bidders are encouraged by the attractive gap between the cost of borrowing and the earnings yield of the market, and there has been a noticeable increase in appetite for 'real' assets, writes Frances Hudson