Citigroup's private banking arm plans to hire as many as 100 new bankers in the next 18 months and JPMorgan Private Bank expects to increase the number of its US bankers by about 10 per cent annually over the next few years as competition rises in the $100 trillion wealth management industry. Citi 's private banking arm, which serves clients with assets of at least $25 million, currently has about 200 bankers but Richard Ditizio, head of the bank's High Net Worth unit in North America, told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Boston that that number will grow to somewhere between 275 to 300 in the next 18 months. "We've grown by about 35 per cent in the last year and a half and expect that to look the same for the next year and a half," Mr Ditizio said. He said the bank plans to add offices on Florida's western coast, in Dallas and in southern California. In Canada, Citi also expects to open a new office in Calgary. JPMorgan Chase's private banking arm has already raised its number of advisors to about 370 from 325 about a year ago to bolster its presence in such regions as the West Coast, Catherine Keating, chief executive of the private bank, told the summit. "Over the last couple of years, we've tried to grow high single digits to about 10 per cent a year in terms of private bankers, and we think that's about the right pace. So we will probably continue to grow at about that pace," she said. Bank of New York Mellon's wealth management division earlier announced its own plans to roughly double its sales force in the next few years.