Australia: Tapping a growing rich list

The most common subject when foreign banks talk about expansion in Australia is wealth management. Paul Masi, chief executive at Merrill Lynch, which focuses successfully on Australia’s ultra-rich, talks of "a unique franchise" and wants to get bigger. Steve Harker, chief executive at Morgan Stanley, has also marked it down.

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Brutal competition for asset management

UBS has about 130 advisers; head of wealth management Liz Cacciottollo wants to take that to 180. She says: “In terms of market size, Australia is probably the 10th-largest domestic opportunity in the world in terms of wealth in the hands of private individuals we might advise”. By her reckoning there are A$700 billion to A$800 billion ($582 billion to $665 billion) of investable assets in those hands.

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