Barclays Wealth, part of the UK banking group, saw new clients add £3bn (€3.6bn) in assets over the last six months amid an aggressive five-year strategic investment plan launched by chief executive Tom Kalaris in February.

In February American Kalaris said he wanted to make his unit one of the top five wealth managers in the world within the next five years by investing £350m in the business between now and 2015.