UBS has recruited Vinay Gandhi as a managing director at UBS Wealth Management, charged with growing its non-resident Indian (NRI) business.

Mr Gandhi will be country team head for India International Asia, to be based in Singapore from where he will develop the India operation.

Mr Gandhi will report to Andreas Reber, regional market manager of India Indochina and global investors APAC, the Swiss bank and wealth management firm said in a statement.

Mr Gandhi has previously held senior leadership positions at JP Morgan Private Bank and Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management where he was responsible for the development and growth of the NRI and South Asia wealth management business. Prior to that, he worked in senior roles in Citigroup Private Bank and Commerzbank Private Banking Singapore.

"UBS is committed to developing the India market, which represents enormous potential with the rise of wealth creation in the region. We remain committed to strategically hiring highly experienced talents like Vinay as we continue to drive growth of the business in the region," said Christine Ong, chief executive, Wealth Management Singapore.

Mr Gandhi's appointment follows on the heels of the recent appointments of: Carlo Grigioni as head of ultra high net worth, Asia Pacific; Daniel Harel as head of UHNW, South Asia; Yeong Phick Fui and Kurt Kumschick as senior advisors to the UHNW business in the region; and Reto Marx as managing director, UHNW country team head for South Asia.

Reports said that in his new role, Mr Gandhi is heading a team of around 30 people based in Singapore and Hong Kong. 

UBS’ NRI wealth management team has undergone a number of changes over the past few months, after ten staff focused on the UHNW market – including eight executives – defected last August to Barclays Wealth, as exclusively reported by WealthBriefingAsia at the time.

Following this, UBS immediately installed a new team headed by Vikram Malhotra.  However according to media reports Mr Malhotra has since left UBS.

Mr Gandhi fills an increasingly important role, as the NRI wealth management market is considered a high growth area and many firms are strengthening their coverage of it along with the domestic Indian market for wealth management - an growing market driven by the expansion of an affluent middle class.

To demonstrate this a report in November 2009 by the Reserve Bank of India said that NRIs had contributed $2.7 billion worth of inflows into onshore banks between April and September, against just $1.1 billion in the same period in 2008.