Barclays Wealth has hired a senior private banker in Dubai to deal with the non-resident Indian client market, adding to the recent trend of wealth managers tapping into the NRI sector.

Sharad Nair will be leading a team of private bankers covering NRI clients. He joins from Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME), where he has been based for three years as managing director. Mr Nair headed Sarasin-Alpen’s Gulf Co-operation Council and South Asian private banking business.

The non-resident Indian market is seen as an important sector for western wealth management firms as they look to tap into the recent rapid growth of an affluent Indian middle class. Among the banks that have expanded in this field are Royal Bank of Canada. RBC Wealth Management, the wealth management arm of Royal Bank of Canada, has hired a former Citibank International team to cover its non-resident Indian clients as the firm moves to increase its coverage of the NRI market in Europe and Asia.

Barclays Wealth said that before his role at Sarasin-Alpen, Mr Nair was unit head (private banking) at Mashreq Bank in its wealth and investment services divisions.

Mr Nair will report to Soha Nashaat, chief executive of Barclays Wealth for the Middle East and North Africa.

Mr Nair has spoken at a number of private banking and wealth management conferences in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Australia and has been a visiting lecturer at a number of regional universities.