Barclays Wealth, the wealth management unit of Barclays, has poached a team of high-producing financial advisors from Deutsche Bank, Dow Jones reports.

It is reported that Patrick McBrien, Heidi Guldbrandsen and Scott Zelnick, who collectively managed $5.5 billion in client assets, have joined Barclay’s Park Avenue, New York office. They all join in the capacity of directors and report to Mark Stevenson, managing director and head of the New York office, according to the publication.

The hiring of the team comes as Barclays Wealth is expanding its wealth management foothold in America, which it acquired following the collapse of Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy.

The firm added around 50 representatives in 2009 and has said it wants to add a further 100 this year as part of a build-out of the Americas.

Furthermore, Barclays Wealth is spending an additional £350 million (as well as year-on-year investment) to expand the business, Thomas Kalaris, head of Barclays Wealth, told WealthBriefing in February.

The private wealth unit reported a pre-tax profit  of £145 million in 2009 and employs around 7,400 people.