Dutch bank ABN AMRO is launching a service to advise private banks and their clients on investing in fine art and a growing number of art funds.
ABN AMRO's Art Investment Advisory group will also assist wealthy clients in putting together and managing their own collections, the bank said. It will work together with Seymour Management, an independent art advisor and valuer.
ABN AMRO is hoping to take advantage of the growing trend as a growing number of financial institutions has been looking into art investments as another asset class.
Art-investment has long been a playground for the super-rich, but a growing number of special funds are pooling money to plough into multimillion-dollar masterpieces.
Fine art has been showing returns of 11.5 to 12.5 per cent return on a compound annual basis, according to figures cited by ABN AMRO and the art invement industry.
"Art is a maturing asset class; for many years it has been used as an anti-inflationary tool, offering long term returns that compare favourably with those from equity and bond markets," the bank said in a statement.