Broker steps out

CAZENOVE, the establishment's stockbroker, is planning to open an office in Chester to service the Cheshire and North Wales gentry.

The office will be Cazenove's second regional office after Salisbury, which opened three years ago.

Mark Loveday, senior partner, refused to confirm plans for Chester. But he said Salisbury had been a great success.

When that office was opened Cazenove said it would open more if it proved a success. It added that any future locations should have at least three of the following four: a race course, a cathedral, a market and a university. Chester has all of these except a university.

These offices join Cazenove's international network of offices mainly based in the world's main financial centres and the emerging markets of South East Asia.

These are in London, Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo, Bangkok, Geneva, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and Johannesburg.

After 170 years in business, Cazenove appears to have decided to widen its horizons and peer downmarket. In 1991, it revealed that there was no minimum wealth requirement at the Salisbury office. But wealthier clients, with pounds 100,000 or more to invest, would be eligible for a personal discretionary management service.

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