ICICI Bank said yesterday that it plans to hire as many as 10,000 new employees in 2006 with as many as 1,000 destined for the bank’s rapidl...

ICICI Bank said yesterday that it plans to hire as many as 10,000 new employees in 2006 with as many as 1,000 destined for the bank’s rapidly growing wealth management business. The Hyderabad-based bank, which started private banking three years ago and is now the market leader, overseeing client assets of $5 billion onshore, is targeting a 10 per cent share of client wealth in India in two to three years, versus 2.5 per cent of the $200 billion market it has now. A considerable amount of this market is mass affluent, though. Last July ICICI Bank entered into a private banking strategic non-equity alliance with Fortis Bank, which is India’s second largest bank. Fortis said at the time that its private banking unit, MeesPierson, and ICICI Bank would offer wealth management services, estate planning, trust and corporate services and discretionary asset management to non-resident Indian nationals around the globe.