Barclay's looks to millionaires

Barclays said today it is shelling out £375m (€558m) on encouraging a greater number of millionaires to open accounts with the bank.

The group’s wealth management arm is eager to take advantage of the growing number of millionaires, including Premiership footballers and popstars.

In 2005 there were 8.3 million people around the world holding at least US$1m (€798,000) worth of financial assets, according to the Merrill Lynch and CapGemini World Wealth Report.

At the start of of 2006 it was estimated there were more than 1.9 million people in the UK with more than £100,000 (€148,800) in free assets and 560,000 with more than £250,000 (€372,000) ready to invest.

Barclays is set to spend £125m (€186m) a year for the next three years to compete for clients along with the likes of Coutts and UBS, commonly linked to banking for the rich.

The money is being spent on shoring up the management team and improving IT systems to entice a richer clientele to move to the bank.

Barclays has been strengthening its wealth management team during the last 12 months and has taken on a number of key players to lure millionaires.

Former Coutts London private banking head Paul Richardson was appointed in August as director with responsibility for Sport, Media and Entertainment, which involves attracting high-earning stars.

Meanwhile, Edward Chadwyck-Healey has joined from UBS and has become managing director of High Net Worth business – for customers with more than £250,000 (€372,000) in investable assets.

Barclays Stockbrokers and a host of other services for the well-off have been hauled under the wealth management brand in the last 12 months.

The operation looks after £84bn (€125bn) worth of assets and provides investment, pension and financial planning advice to wealthy customers around the world.

In August, Barclays said total group profits in the first half of the year rose 37% to £3.67bn (€5.46bn), although it warned of growing levels of bad debt at Barclaycard.