Barclays Plc, Britain's second- biggest bank, is seeking to boost revenue from the Middle East and North Africa by as much as 25 percent annually over the next five years and will hire about 100 people in the region in 2012. Revenue “aspirations are in the range" of a 20 percent to 25 percent compound annual increase, helped by the wealth, investment management and trade finance businesses, John Vitalo, chief executive officer for the Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview in Dubai today. The bank will add about 100 people to its existing staff of a 1,000 in the region, he said. The Middle East and Africa generated about 5 billion pounds ($8 billion) of revenue for Barclays last year, about 15 percent of the total, the London-based bank's annual report shows. Banks such as Barclays, HSBC Holdings Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc (STAN) are stepping up lending in the Middle East again as rising oil revenue revives the region's economy after the credit crisis of 2008. The number of millionaires in the Middle East rose 10 percent to 400,000 in 2010 and their wealth by 13 percent to $1.7 trillion, according to the Capgemini and Merrill Lynch 2011 World Wealth Report. Barclays is growing its balance sheet “modestly" and is posting “respectable growth" in revenue and pretax profit in the Middle East and North Africa, said Vitalo, Bloomberg reported.
