Wealth news from Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Persian Gulf and India. Citigroup is hanging on to its Australian retail brokerage and wealth-management business. The Wall Street firm's public re-commitment to keeping investment-product distributor Smith Barney in Australia follows several months of media speculation to the effect that Citi, keen to offset recent losses due to exposure in the sub-prime market, was on the verge of making a deal with National Australia Bank.

"It is recognition of the high value Citi places on Citi Smith Barney and its importance to the Australian franchise," Citi's Australian country executive Stephen Roberts told Dow Jones today.

Non-core

New York-based Citi has said it wants to divest approximately $400 billion in "non-core assets" over the next three years. It plans to close Smith Barney's operations in Taiwan this year.

As we reported last week, HSBC sees Taiwan's wealth-management market slowing to about 5% this year, down from 11% through the past five years.

Taiwan's woes notwithstanding, London-based Threadneedle, an asset-management subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Ameriprise, is hoping to tap into Asia's growing hunger for investment products by opening an office in Hong Kong. It has put James Campion, formerly a managing director of U.K.-based New Star Asset Management, in charge of distribution in Asia.

Growth spots

And if Citi is scanning the globe for places to trim back on wealth management, the Persian Gulf region isn't a likely candidate. In fact, the firm has just opened its third private-banking office in Abu Dhabi. It also has offices in Bahrain and Dubai.

"There is much wealth creation in the Gulf region thanks to the robust, diversified economies as well as higher energy prices," says Deepak Sharma, head of Citi's international wealth-management business. "Also, we are increasingly witnessing a growing appetite among the region's high net worth clientele for more sophisticated and innovative investment opportunities, locally and globally."

Among other players in the Gulf region are ING Investment Management, Mirabaud, American Express' Global Wealth Management group, UBS and the Carlyle Group -- just to name a few that have arrived there over the past year or so.

India is another pile-in spot for international wealth managers, with some analysts saying it trumps China for near-term growth potential. But Hyderabad, India-based ICICI is looking to provide private-client services overseas, specifically in Canada, which boasts the world's fastest population of Indian emigrants and ex-pats. -FWR

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