“GSAD caters to the needs of the increasing number of high net worth Global South Asians whose wealth is estimated to be in excess of  US$1 trillion, of which US$500 billion is onshore in India,” Raj Parmar, the Global Head of the GSAD team said in a statement.

The appointment of Mr. Balagopalan, who previously headed up NRI North Asia at UBS, is the first step in the regional expansion of the GSAD team, which targets the wealthy client base of a large diaspora of Indian, Pakastani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lanki origin. Mr. Balagopolan’s team is to increase to 24 by the end of the year.

HSBC Private Bank’s GSAD team is comprised of 110 staff in nine locations. GSAD has regional offices in India, North America, the UK, Switzerland, Channel Islands, Dubai, Luxembourg, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong. 

The bank’s onshore business extends to six Indian regions with expansion throughout the country planned for the future. 

“HSBC Private Bank's strategy is to go onshore where suitable opportunities arise and where we believe that we can bring value through such activities” Mr Parmar told Wealthbriefing.

The bank reported assets under management of £14,241million for the first half of 2008.