Another firm, London-based Cazenove, plans to add bodies at its asset-management office in Chester, which is a little south and west of Manchester.

"The wealth demographic is rapidly shifting and the Northwest is an increasing hotspot in terms of wealth growth, particularly among entrepreneurs," particularly among entrepreneurs," Kleinwort Benson private banker James Stevenson told Manchester Business last week.

In another move away from the U.K.'s capital and biggest city, London-based Thinc Group has acquired Southampton-based financial planning company FS3.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Thinc says the FS3 -- which manages about $196 million in assets, mainly private clients -- extends its geographical reach.

Thinc, an independently operated subsidiary of Paris based AXA, bought Knutsford, U.K.-based Watterson Wealth Management, about $295 million in assets under management, in February 2008. Late last year, it bought the Cardiff, Wales-based financial-planning firms Cavendish and Chambers Morgan James.

In a merger between two London-based outfits, BDO Stoy Hayward has acquired actuary and pension specialist Wolanski Checkley Fisher to boost its pension-consulting business.

The acquisition "will add significantly to our advisory capabilities and build on the expertise of our actuarial team by adding six qualified actuaries, while enabling us to take on larger assignments, particularly in the pension fund arena," says Richard Spilg, head of BDO's investment-management unit.

In all, the merger stands to add 30 new staffers to BDO's current headcount of 195.

Isle of Man

London-based AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management has established a bridgehead on the Isle of Man for expansion into continental Europe. To that end it has named Kevin Dean as CEO and Mike Foy as managing director of AXA's business in the self-governing Crown dependency.

"The offshore business offers great benefits to clients and the new European plans will widen its offering to a new range of consumers," says Mike Kellard, CEO of AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management. "AXA Isle of Man has seen tremendous growth over the past few years culminating in receipt of over in 2007; this is in excess of 25% of all offshore business in the U.K."

Dean will maintain overall charge of the offshore business, but he will also now be in charge of building the international program. Foy, who will report to Dean, will oversee day-to-day management of the Isle of Man business. He was formerly in charge of investment operations and strategic development.

AXA's Isle of Man business is to work alongside AXA Life Europe to develop offshore products that cater to British expatriates.

AXA is a Paris-based insurance group. AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management is a brand name for two of AXA's U.K. businesses: Winterthur Life U.K. Limited and AXA Sun Life Services PLC.

The Isle of Man isn't part of the U.K., but it shares a head of state with it -- Queen Elizabeth II, these days. Like the Channel Islands to the south, the Isle of Man is an important offshore banking center.

India

Barclays first said it was planning to enter the Indian wealth-management space late in 2006. In mid 2007, it named Satya Narayan Bansal to head of its private-client efforts in the subcontinent.

Now it says its Indian private-banking business will have 100 employees by the end of 2008. Barclays is already present in India via Barclays Capital, a debt-focused investment bank.

The expansion into India's private-banking market is part of its overall investment of $746 million over three years to boost its global wealth-management business.

In addition to its recruiting in India, Barclays will also hire 65 people in other parts of Asia, primarily in Singapore and Hong Kong -- markets already notable for scarcity of talented wealth-management personnel.

In 2006, India's population of U.S.-dollar millionaires increased by 20.5% to about 100,000, according to the World Wealth Report, which is co-published byMerrill Lynch and Capgemini. The only country churning out millionaires at a faster rate that year was Singapore.

Citibank India has launched Citigold Select, a premium service offering that gives high-net-worth customers access to a "holistic" suite of retail-banking and wealth-management services.

"Our unique proposition stems not only from the depth of our expertise and our global capabilities, but also the breadth of our product range which is unrivalled in the affluent high-net-worth segment," says Citiban India's retail-banking chief T.R. Ramachandran. "We bring the best of retail banking and wealth management advisory to our clients, with products ranging from transactional accounts, mortgages, car loans, insurance, credit cards and investments, all the way through to trusts, managed accounts and private investment tranches unique to each individual client's requirements."

Citigold Select services include a quarterly research report, equity brokerage and advisory services, a Citibank Ultima card, trust services, art advisory services, and exclusive meets and events.

Chinese regulators

Oaks, Pa.-based investment-service outsourcer SEI is moving into mainland China as a result of an investment-advisory agreement with Beijing-based Yinhua Fund Management.

"China holds great opportunity for us and we are pleased to be partnering with Yinhua for such a significant business venture," says Joseph Ujobai, executive v.p. of SEI's "global" -- that is, ex-U.S. -- private-banking-support business.

At about 310,000, China has the world's fifth-biggest population of U.S.-dollar millionaires. Some forecasters say that number could double by 2011.

Yinhua plans to use SEI's manager-of-managers program to bolster its offerings to domestic investors. SEI will also provide training, fund-distribution services to Yinhua.

But since the deal between SEI and Yinhua came to light, the China Banking Regulatory Commission has come out with new rules for Chinese entities providing private-client investment products.

China's financial-service regulator is telling firms under its purview to develop their own wealth-management products and stop servings as brokers for foreign-owned investment products. That's bound to be good news for Hong Kong-based asset managers.

In March 2008, Beijing-based China Minsheng Bank shuttered a fund it launched in October 2007 after the fund lost half its value. -FWR

Purchase reproduction rights to this article.