26 August 2008: Barclays Wealth taps into South Asian high net worth community based in North Asia

Barclays Wealth, the wealth management division of Barclays, has appointed Nitin Birla as director, Head of Hong Kong Desk, South Asia, in a move to tap into the burgeoning potential of the South Asian high net worth community in North Asia.

In this newly-created role, Mr. Birla’s directive is to drive and execute the strategy for South Asian client acquisition in North Asia. He will report to Sandeep Sharma, Head of South Asia, who is based in Singapore.

Mr. Sharma said, “We are delighted to welcome Nitin to our team. Nitin has an impressive track record in building up similar businesses in his previous employment, and we are confident that he will be able to realise the mandate with his vast experience and in-depth knowledge of the South Asian high net worth community based in North Asia.”

Didier von Daeniken, Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth Asia Pacific, said, “Asia Pacific is an important growth region for our private banking business, with North Asia making a strong contribution in terms of assets growth and client base. We are now just one of the few private banks to have coverage of the South Asian high net worth segment based out of Hong Kong, complementing a well-established Hong Kong-based team currently serving the North Asian markets.”

Prior to joining Barclays Wealth, Mr. Birla spent seven years as Executive Vice President at RBS Coutts in Hong Kong, where he instituted its private banking business and implemented the strategy for South Asian client acquisition in the North Asian markets of China, Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines and Taiwan. Before that, Mr. Birla spent six years building up Citibank’s non-resident Indian business in Hong Kong, where he successfully established and led a team of relationship managers servicing NRI clients based in North Asia.

Mr. Birla has twenty years of experience in the banking industry, having also held senior roles at Citibank in India, and BNP Paribas in Hong Kong.

For further information contact:

Barclays Wealth
Gan Lee Meng
+65 6308 3772 / leemeng.gan@barclaysasia.com

Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Hong Kong
Cindy Gan
+852 2884 8656 / cindy.gan@ogilvy.com
Rita Ngai
+852 2884 8584 / rita.ngai@ogilvy.com