March, 06, 2010

Anglo-French banking group Rothschild plans to at least double the size of its British private banking arm following an aggressive hiring spree of senior bankers poached from Morgan Stanley's wealth division.Rothschild's UK wealth unit, which manages around 2.5 billion pounds of assets for less than 600 wealthy clients, is preparing a rapid expansion by attracting clients from rival banks, said the head of the UK private banking business.

"There's no reason why ... that can't be twice as much, three times as much," said Gary Powell."This is an insanely fragmented industry. Nobody has more than a few percent market share ... so there's plenty of scope for being larger."The bank on Friday said it has appointed Nandu Patel as a managing director who leaves Morgan Stanley after 20 years.Patel, who starts in his new role in June, follows colleagues Helen Watson and James Morrell who were hired last month after 19 years and seven years respectively at Morgan Stanley.

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