Big hiring is coming at Barclays Wealth and Russia will be at the forefront of recruitment

We’ve already looked at the phenomenon of Russian private banker recruitment. Now, it looks like Barclays Wealth might be at the front of the hiring queue.

The bank is in the middle of, ‘Project Gamma,’ a 5 year and £700m investment programme due to finish in 2014. £280m is due to be invested in staff.

Thomas Kalaris, chief executive of Barclays Wealth, met with analysts at Morgan Stanley this week and told them he plans an, “aggressive hiring strategy,” with 260 new relationship managers to be recruited by 2013.

Many of these new relationship managers will be hired in Asia. But Bloomberg said this week thatRussia’s super-rich are a particular focus for Barclays and that the Middle East and Russia have some of the greatest potential.

The big issue is likely to be pay. Morgan Stanley says the cost-income ratio at Barclays Wealth is currently above 80%. Barclays Wealth told Morgan Stanley's analysts it's trying to get this down. Until this happens, it's unlikely to pay more than average.