The private banking arm of Lloyds TSB, partly owned by the UK government, has hired Anthony Valgimigli to head its high net worth business in the Middle East.

Valgimigli joins after nearly three decades at Barclays, two thirds of which at the bank’s Middle East private banking business. In his career, he has covered families across the region and led teams in London, Geneva and Monaco. In 2008, he was based in Qatar, where he returned in 2011 to head the bank’s private wealth business.

In his new role, he will be based in Geneva and lead teams in Switzerland and Dubai. He reports to Martin Fricker, HNW director.

The latest World Wealth Report by RBC Wealth Management and Capgemini showed that the high net worth population in the Middle East rose by 2.7 per cent from 2010 to 2011 and reached 450,000. Total wealth held in the region increased by 0.7 per cent to $1.7 trillion. However, many wealthy people in the region have moved their assets to safe havens such as Switzerland and London since the Arab Spring.

In recent developments at Lloyds, at the end of last month, the wealth unit of the bank logged a 17 per cent year-on-year increase in income to £176 million (around $272 million). Assets under management at the wealth business, including such holdings as St James’s Place, Invista Real Estate, private and international banking and other segments, stood at £181.5 billion at the end of June, down from £192.3 billion a year earlier, as market movements and attrition of insurance funds eroded the AuM figure.

The UK bank is one of more than a dozen banks that is being investigated by the authorities in the UK for allegedly helping to rig interbank interest rates known as LIBOR.