Barclays has made four senior additions to its Singapore-based Indonesia and Greater China wealth management teams, as the war for talented bankers rages on.

Barclays has made four senior additions to its Singapore-based Indonesia and Greater China wealth management teams from rivals, the latest example of the so-called hiring "merry-go-round" in Asia.

Tsukasa Miyachi joined as managing director on 3 April, focusing on the Indonesia market. Miyachi was most recently the head of wealth management for Singapore, at Nomura, and has 25 years of private and investment banking experience in Asia.

He was succeeded by Nobuhiro Sano this month.

Erliena Yulianawati joined from recently-acquired Clariden Leu as director, on 2 April 2012, also focusing on the Indonesia market. Yulianawati has over 20 years of Asia-based private and corporate banking experience. Credit Suisse last month bought the smaller Swiss bank, and there have been a few departures as a result. 

Fumiko Omura joined from Merrill Lynch as director on 20 March 2012. Omura focuses primarily on Southeast Asia. She has 25 years experience.

Eugene Huang started in February, serving ultra high net worth clients in Greater China. Huang also joined from Merrill Lynch, as director, and reports to Carol Chen, market head of Greater China, who has been rapidly growing the Greater China team in Singapore, since she joined in November 2011.

The three Indonesia-focussed bankers report to Srinivas Siripurapu, head of wealth management, South Asia and Southeast Asia. He joined Barclays in 2009, and under his watch, the Southeast Asia and South Asia private banking business has grown its revenues by 50 per cent each year, and more than doubled assets under management

He said: “Singapore has established its reputation for high standards of regulation and supervision, as well as a robust legal and judicial framework. As the wealth management industry in Singapore continues to develop in tandem with the burgeoning pace of wealth creation, Barclays is focused on attracting the best private banking talent to tap on this growth.”

Asia's fast-growing pool of wealth is triggering what industry experts refer to as a recruitment "merry-go-round". The talent pool for the best-connected private bankers is so small, that the top global players are increasingly forced to poach from each other.

Now several banks, like Barclays, UBS, Bank of Singapore, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan, have their own in-house training and development programmes for wealth managers. However, it will take a while before a trainee wealth manager can gain the track-record, market knowledge and experience needed to win the trust of clients. In the meantime, the war for talent rages on.