In The Features Section

The Wall Street Journal in its August, 2006 edition pointed out that wealth managers are getting bullish on art. More and more managers and financial institutions are taking aggressive action to attract more customers and clients offering more services to help include art in their asset base. Private banks and brokerage firms are beefing up in-house groups that help clients navigate the art market and manage their collections, which can be valued at millions of dollars.

The art-advisory service at Citigroup Inc.'s private bank is hiring its sixth art specialist, double the number it had in 2002. At UBS AG's art-banking group in Basel, Switzerland, a dozen specialists cater to clients' art needs, double the number when the group started in 1998.

American International Group Inc.'s AIG Private Client Group unit is expanding its art-underwriting department and a loss-management group that visits clients' homes to evaluate the vulnerability of their artworks to fire, flood ...

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