ABN Amro's private client team will move en-masse to Bloxham Stockbrokers next month following the closure of the Dutch bank's Dublin-based private client division.

"The whole thing is very good for us," said Bloxham managing partner, Mr Angus McDonnell. "The market has expanded enormously over the last couple of years and this year, despite the slowdown, it is still very busy."

ABN Amro, which took over Riada stockbrokers about 10 years ago, announced last week that it was divesting itself of its small private client division with immediate effect.

The move came after the cost-conscious ABN Amro completed a comprehensive strategic review of its worldwide operations. The company decided to axe non-core operations and around 900 jobs were cut, mainly in the US.

In Dublin it was widely rumoured that all of ABN's stockbroking operations - employing 60 people in its main division and just seven in its private client arm - would be shut down.

An ABN spokeswoman adamantly denied this saying there were no plans for the main stockbrokering division to be closed.

She said it was, instead, changing focus to become a panEuropean, sector-focused trading house targeting large corporate and international clients.

Bloxham, set up over a century ago with small offices in Limerick and Cork, is the largest independent agency stockbroker in Dublin and boasts the third-largest private client list after Davy stockbrokers, owned by Bank of Ireland and Goodbody stockbrokers, a subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank.

The addition of the six-strong ABN Amro team brings the total working in Bloxham's private client arm to 26 out of a total staff of 50.