Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has significantly broadened its product range in UK Covered Warrants by adding 58 new warrants to its offering.

Shahzad Sadique, DrKW's UK Head of Covered Warrants, said: "The expansion of our initial product range reflects our intention to be a serious player in the UK Covered Warrants market.  We will continue to broaden our range over time and plan to launch tracker, FX and commodity warrants shortly. We see considerable room for growth in the UK market as investors come to appreciate the benefits covered warrants have to offer and we will leverage our experience of more established Covered Warrants markets such as Germany to ensure we meet customers pricing and product needs."

The bank launched its first line of UK Covered Warrants in February with 16 "classic" warrants covering the FTSE index and six UK bluechip stocks (Astra Zeneca, Vodafone, Prudential, Unilever, HSBC and Shell).

It has now expanded the number of FTSE warrants it offers and added warrants in other major indices as well as a further 13 UK bluechip companies. The total 58 new warrants comprise:

u Index warrants: x4 new warrants on the FTSE and x3 covering each of the Nikkei, Nasdaq and DJ Eurostoxx indices;
u UK major stocks: x3 warrants on each of Anglo American, BP, British Airways, British American Tobacco, BT Group, J Sainsbury, Royal Bank of Scotland and x4 warrants on Barclays, Diageo, Glaxo Smithkline, HBOS, Lloyds TSB and Tesco.

These products can be traded by private investors through their stockbroker. Full information on DrKW's UK Covered Warrants range can be found at the website www.warrants.dresdner.com.

Stockbrokers can trade DrKW warrants and the warrants of several other issuer banks through bestconnecttm , DrKW's RSP platform.