Coutts launches aggressive hiring spree Coutts & Co, the private bank used by Queen Elizabeth II, has embarked on an aggressive hiring spree as it attempts to bolster its performance following regulatory failings. Having scaled down its sprawling overseas presence last year, the wealth arm of Royal Bank of Scotland is now strengthening core businesses in the UK, Middle East, Asia, Switzerland and eastern Europe. It is particularly focused on building the ranks of senior directors. Coutts has boosted headcount in this area by a third since January of last year and in recent weeks has stepped up its search for top-level appointments, hiring about 20 new senior executives. A further 10 are due to join shortly. The recruitment drive pushed up staff expenses at RBS's wealth division more than 20 per cent to £117m in the first quarter of this year compared with the previous three months. This contributed to a near-40 per cent fall in operating profit. "We are attracting top industry professionals, particularly within products and services, to work alongside our private bankers and wealth managers," said Michael Morley, chief executive of Coutts UK. This investment will position us for the industry changes that will come about at the start of 2013. The bank, which has struggled at times to compete with bigger rivals, particularly in its underused investment business, has attracted executives from Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS as well as UK rivals HSBC and Barclays and some US banks. It is beefing up its investment business ahead of the introduction of the retail distribution review, which will clamp down on the sale of financial products. It has also had to improve its risk and compliance operations, which were left exposed by a series of fines from the City regulator. Coutts was forced to pay the UK's biggest fine of £8.75m for violating money laundering rules in March, just months after it was hit with a £6.3m fine for failing to sufficiently explain the risks associated with certain savings products. This year, it has hired chief risk officers in the UK and Asia and brought in a new head of regulatory affairs and compliance. On Friday, it announced that Paul Sarosy, who recently left Credit Suisse, would join as head of its investment solutions business. Another key area is the Middle East, which Rory Tapner, chief executive of the overall wealth division, has identified as a high-growth area over the next few years. Coutts plans to make at least 15 senior hires in the Middle East this year. It has appointed Ali Hammad, also a Credit Suisse banker, as co-head of private banking for the Middle East. Gary Dugan is expected to join from Emirates NBD, the Dubai-based bank, as chief investment officer for Asia & Middle East. Senior executives now make up almost 8 per cent of Coutts" total staff base compared with about 6 per cent a year ago.