Deutsche Bank plans to double the assets it manages for non-resident Indians (NRIs) to $10 billion in three years and hire more bankers in Asia to capture this growing market, Bloomberg reports.

The German bank employs 60 people to serve the NRI market but wants to boost this by at least 50 per cent, Salman Mahdi, who runs global private wealth management for South Asia from London, is reported to have said. The hiring will mainly take place in Singapore and Hong Kong, with the remainder in London, Geneva and Dubai, and will be focused on senior bankers, the publication reports.

The NRI market, seen as a major and growing segment for wealth management, has led to a number of firms expanding their operations, starting new offices and hiring teams, such as Barclays Wealth, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.

There are an estimated 25-30 million people of Indian origin living overseas, with as much as $70 billion to invest, Mr Mahdi reportedly said, adding that this will grow: “The South Asian story keeps getting updated because the phenomenon is getting bigger and bigger…The scale at which the new generation is thinking of doing business is several multiples of what their forefathers were doing.”

Due to this, competition for talent is “very much on” in Asia, Mr Mahdi reportedly said. Last August Barclays Wealth poached an NRI team from UBS, and in the same month Deutsche Bank lost the head of its NRI team for South East Asia to JP Morgan.  

This is a problem for banks, as continuity is becoming more important for both clients and bankers, said Mr Mahdi.