Japanese giant boosts efforts to capture wallet share in Asia, Middle East. Japanese Nomura is expanding its wealth-management business in Asia and the Middle East. The campaign is a response reaction to a steady increase in Gulf-region wealth and the rapid growth of Asia's rapidly developing economies and a consequent rise in personal affluence.

"We are very encouraged by the support given by our clients and we are very optimistic about business prospects going forward," says Kunio Watanabe, head of Nomura's wealth-management division. "To achieve our long term goal of becoming a strong and reputable wealth-management business and providing our clients with excellent service delivery, we will invest in infrastructure and systems, build up our product and service platform, recruit talented and experienced people, and further develop staff expertise."

And there's the potential rub, says Alois Pirker, a senior analyst with Aite Group, a Boston-based business consultancy. Though Nomura has been an Asian "ex-Japan" wealth manager for more than 30 years, its move to expand its presence on the ground will push it up against a litany of other big-name players in a fight -- evidenced in the private-bank defections roiling Singapore -- for seasoned wealth managers with knowledge of the local languages and cultures.

"Besides the oil-rich nations in the gulf, India and China have been prime targets for the likes of UBS, Credit Suisse, Citi, Merrill Lynch [and] Morgan Stanley," says Pirker. "Hiring the top talent required to enter these markets, however, has become increasingly more difficult, since people with experience in these markets are rare and the large wealth management firms are paying top dollar for these people."

All these players are chasing wallet share in a region with a fast expanding pool of affluent individuals.

In 2005 the number of U.S.-dollar millionaires in the Middle East increased 9.8% over 2004 levels to about 300,000, according to consultancy Capgemini's most recent World Wealth Report -- and thanks mostly to rising oil prices. Total assets held by Middle East-based millionaires increased 19.7% to about $1.2 trillion.

The growth of Asia's high-net-worth population is due to the region's strong, though far from homogenous, economy. South Korea, India and Indonesia have the world's fastest-growing high-net-worth populations. Taken together, China and Japan hold more than 65% of the region's total $7.6 trillion in high-wealth assets.

The number of individuals with at least $30 million in net financial assets, jumped by 12.1% to 15,600 in 2005 -- a year that Capgemini says epitomized "the world's slowing trend following 2003's crest."

Watanabe has moved to Nomura's Tokyo headquarters to Hong Kong.

Noruma has also made former Merrill executive Andy Yong regional head of trustee services. He will be based in Singapore. -FWR

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